I don’t get many reader questions, and when I do most of them are asking for financial advice which I tend to shy away from. But a great question found its way into my inbox last week.
I have recently been addicted to the TV Show Glee… but I am anti-conservative and don’t want to support FOX, which it unfortunately airs on. I have been watching it on Hulu, assuming that they get less ad money from the one ad that plays in the beginning… is this true? Do you know how much networks make off of airing things online through sites like Hulu, compared to when they run it themselves? Or… is the entertainment side of FOX not connected to FOX news, so I can watch guilt free?
The reader is asking two questions here. The first one is how does the advertising on Hulu (a popular site for watching TV shows) compare to the advertising when shows broadcast at their normal times? The second question is, if you hate Fox News, should you boycott other channels affiliated with it? This was the perfect opportunity to talk about other parts of business outside finance.
We’ll start with advertising. Hulu is a fantastic website, I watch almost all of my TV on Hulu for the convenience factor and the limited commercials. The typical television break lasts somewhere between 1 and 3 minutes. The typical commercial break on Hulu is 15 to 30 seconds. That fact alone is enough to easily state Fox would be making less money on ad revenue with Hulu. But on top of that there are less viewers on Hulu than traditional TV(for now) and so revenue would also be reduced once compared to each 30 second spot. In the future these differences will merge, and eventually online advertising for video will take over. To answer the question though, Fox makes less on a viewer with Hulu than a viewer on TV, but it’s only a matter of time until this changes.
The second question is far more interesting. Fox News is a part of the Fox Entertainment Group, which includes all Fox TV stations including the likes of FX, Fox Sports Net, SPEED Channel, 20th Century Fox, and many others. Fox Entertainment is one of many companies owned by News Corp, the second largest media company on the planet behind Disney. They own radio, TV, newspapers, tabloids, movies, music, magazines, and even MySpace. If you wanted to protest Fox News by also protesting Fox Broadcasting Company (which airs Glee), then you should protest all the holdings that News Corp owns. This would include, The New-York Post, The Wall Street Journal, HarperCollins (which publishes Freakonomics among thousands of other books), National Geographic Channel, American Idol, and 27% of Hulu itself. That sounds like a lot of work.
But you needn’t worry. I don’t think you have to protest all of News Corp to protest Fox News. Though each division is a part of a corporate umbrella, each company, channel, and department is independently evaluated based on their financial success and viewership. This is the nature of running a big company. If everyone protested Fox News, but was sure not to miss Glee each week then eventually Fox News would either be sold to another company, or shut down altogether. The short answer to the question is, protest Fox News if you wish, but go ahead and watch Glee.
Photo: world economic forum
 By The Weakonomist |
The Weakonomist is the founder of Weakonomics. Clicking the picture of the puppy will tell you more about him. If you like what you're reading consider subscribing to the blog, following him on Twitter, and checking out the related posts below. Please consider a donation if you really enjoy Weakonomics. Also keep in mind that nothing I say can be construed as financial advice. |
