Laura Ingraham returns, with far fewer advertisers
Fox News host Laura Ingraham returns from a one-week vacation tonight to "The Ingraham Angle," a show that now has fewer advertisers as companies pulled their sponsorships over her tweet last month that mocked a Parkland, Florida, school-shooting survivor.
Ingraham lost about 50 percent of her show's on-air advertising time as nearly 20 companies yanked their commercials in response to protests led by David Hogg, the 17-year old Parkland student she mocked. Former Fox host Bill O'Reilly took a similar vacation last year after more than 50 advertisers pulled their support from his show amid allegations of sexual misconduct and payments to O'Reilly's accusers made by Fox. O'Reilly never returned from vacation, and his show was discontinued.
But Fox is standing firmly behind Ingraham.
"We cannot and will not allow voices to be censored by agenda-driven intimidation efforts," Fox News Co-President Jack Abernethy said in a statement April 2. "We look forward to having Laura Ingraham back hosting her program next Monday when she returns from spring vacation with her children."
Ingraham's supporters have called for a boycott of the advertisers who stopped sponsoring the show. Ingraham has since apologized to Hogg.
Advertising time on The Ingraham Angle dropped to about seven minutes on the second night after Hogg's protest began March 28, according to tracker Kantar Media. Fox declined to confirm those numbers. The show had averaged about 14.5 minutes of ads up until the storm caused by Hogg, Kantar said. Five of the show's top 20 spenders during the first quarter of 2018 withdrew their advertising: Bayer, Hulu, Johnson & Johnson, Liberty Mutual Insurance and Wayfair.
The Ingraham Angle was the fourth most popular cable news show in February, with 2.6 million total viewers, its highest monthly rating since launching in October, according to AdWeek. It also was the No. 4 rated cable show among the sought-after 25-to-54 age group. The show airs daily at 10 p.m. Eastern time.
Hogg has become a highly visible gun control advocate after surviving the Feb. 14 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School where 17 people died. He was a speaker at the March for Our Lives rally in Washington, D.C., on March 24 and has been appearing regularly on the subject of gun control in the media.
The 19 advertisers that stopped sponsoring "The Ingraham Angle" are:
- Bayer
- Hulu
- Johnson & Johnson
- Liberty Mutual
- Wayfair
- TripAdvisor
- Nestle
- Nutrish
- Ruby Tuesday
- Atlantis Resort
- Office Depot
- Jenny Craig
- Expedia Group
- Miracle-Ear
- Ace Hardware
- Stitch Fix
- Principle Financial Group
- Honda
- Entertainment Studios
