{"id":190794,"date":"2025-12-14T03:55:08","date_gmt":"2025-12-14T03:55:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/190794\/"},"modified":"2025-12-14T03:55:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-14T03:55:08","slug":"big-advertisers-appear-wary-of-cbs-news-bari-weiss-town-hall-format","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/190794\/","title":{"rendered":"Big Advertisers Appear Wary of CBS News’ Bari Weiss Town Hall Format"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tDuring a Saturday-night town hall led by Bari Weiss<\/a>, the recently named editor in chief of CBS News,<\/a> most of Madison Avenue sought an off-ramp.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe program featured an in-depth interview with Erika Kirk,<\/a> the CEO of the conservative advocacy organization Turning Point USA and the widow of Charlie Kirk, the group\u2019s former leader. He was assassinated during one of the organization\u2019s events at Utah Valley University, throwing a harsh spotlight on the political and cultural divides present in the U.S.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe event marked a new offering from CBS News<\/a>. The organization does not typically host town halls or debates on trending issues or with newsmakers. And the choice of Weiss as moderator also raised eyebrows, because in most modern TV-news organizations, senior editorial executives remain off camera, rather than appearing in front of it.<\/p>\n

\n\tMore may be on the way. During the program, Weiss told viewers that \u201cCBS is going to have many more conversations like this in the weeks and months ahead, so stay tuned. More town halls. More debates. More talking about the things that matter.\u201d That would suggest CBS is planning to devote more hours to the programs. <\/p>\n

\n\tThe news special aired at 8 p.m. on Saturday, one of the least-watched hours in broadcast TV. And that may have contributed to a relative dearth of top advertisers appearing to support the show. During the hour, commercial breaks were largely filled with spots from direct-response advertisers, including the dietary supplement SuperBeets; the home-repair service HomeServe.com; and CarFax, a supplier of auto ownership data. Viewers of of the telecast on WCBS, CBS\u2019 flagship station in New York, even saw a commercial for Chia Pet, the terra-cotta figure that sprouts plant life after a few weeks.<\/p>\n

\n\tDirect-response advertisers typically pay lower prices in exchange for allowing TV networks to put their commercials on air when convenience allows. A flurry of the ads appearing in one program usually offers a signal that the network could not line up more mainstream support for the content it chose to air.<\/p>\n

\n\tA more monied class of sponsors was evident during the first commercial break appearing in the 9 p.m. hour on CBS, a rebroadcast of a 2024 episode of \u201c48 Hours.\u201d Marketers appearing included Amazon, Ferrero Group, and Procter & Gamble. One direct-response marketer, Operation Smile, a nonprofit medical service organization, also appeared.<\/p>\n

\n\tCBS News\u2019 ability to line up sponsorship for the town hall may be critical, especially if the network plans to air more hours tied to the new format. And yet, if advertisers weren\u2019t interested in the first program of this sort, will they want to associate with subsequent efforts?<\/p>\n

\n\tOther marketers who lined up for CBS News\u2019 Erika Kirk town hall included companies whose products and services may have dovetailed with the viewers who tuned in to see the show. Among the town hall\u2019s sponsors were the conservative Heritage Foundation; Hallow, a mobile app for Christian prayer; \u201cDavid,\u201d a new animated film from Angel Studios, which specializes in faith-based content; and the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews. A small handful of more mainstream advertisers, including Spotify and TikTok, was also present.<\/p>\n

\n\tCBS\u2019 interest in such fare goes against the grain. TV news has become a hot potato of sorts on Madison Avenue<\/a> in recent years, with marketers wary of putting their commercials in programming tied to reports on war, cultural divides, and strong-voiced monologues from partisan opinion hosts. One outlet, Fox Corp.\u2019s Fox News, has bucked the trend in recent months, luring new advertisers to its shows as it builds a sizable live audience around its news and opinion shows. <\/p>\n

\n\tAt issue, according to media buyers and TV-sales executives, At issue, is the continuing polarization of U.S. society, and\u00a0the backlash advertisers can get\u00a0<\/a>when consumers perceive their desire to pitch products to news audiences as support for a conservative or liberal point of view. Marketers are also nervous about having their glitzy commercials placed adjacent to segments on war in Ukraine, a growing spate of mass shootings, climate change, and debates on cultural values.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"During a Saturday-night town hall led by Bari Weiss, the recently named editor in chief of CBS News,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":190795,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[71729,9488,93,61,60,65249,282],"class_list":{"0":"post-190794","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-bari-weiss","9":"tag-cbs-news","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-ie","12":"tag-ireland","13":"tag-paramount-skydance","14":"tag-tv"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190794","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=190794"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190794\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/190795"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=190794"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=190794"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=190794"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}