Report: Advertisers Returning To Fox News 8 p.m. Hour

With Tucker Carlson gone from  Fox News Channel, the network hopes that a host of blue-chip advertisers that for years avoided his controversial hour will soon come back in.

Variety reports since Carlson’s stunning exit last month, a timeslot that has been shunned by many Madison Avenue stalwarts seems as if it is being embraced. Procter & Gamble, one of the nation’s largest and most influential advertisers, has been running ads in “Fox News Tonight,” the network’s new 8 p.m. program, for female-skewing products like Venus razor blades by Gillette and Secret underarm deodorant. Also showing up in commercial breaks: Novo Nordisk’s trendy medication Ozempic, and Scotts Miracle-Gro.

“We have had over 40 new advertisers come into the hour since we launched the new program, including some of the largest in the country and, really, across all major categories,” says Jeff Collins, executive vice president of ad sales at Fox News Media, in an interview. “We have seen new advertisers come in, and new demand.”

Fox News has reason to generate new money in primetime. Its parent company, Fox Corp., recently agreed to pay a settlement of $787.5 million to ballot-technology firm Dominion Voting Systems, which alleged Fox News personalities had defamed the company by passing along conspiracy theories tied to the 2020 presidential election. The company faces another defamation lawsuit from Smartmatic, another voting technology firm, which is seeking $2.7 billion in damages.