Anti-CNBC ad runs on CNBC

Paul Shea of ValueWalk.com reports that a Fox Business Network ad slamming competitor CNBC ran on CNBC.

Shea writes, “The appearance of an advertisement lambasting a network policy would, under normal circumstances, be considered an insult. Most networks would have attempted to have it removed from the air. CNBC, however, allowed the advertisement to air on their network. Either the network grinned and bore it, or, more worryingly, nobody important enough noticed.

“Clearly Fox Business Network bought advertising time with the cable provider, meaning CNBC probably wouldn’t have known the advertisement was coming. However, the ads could have been removed by the cable provider, like they were last year when FBN ran ads on CNBC after it aired planned reruns during the after the United States’ credit rating was downgraded.

“CNBC seems to be running scared right now. Some of the firm’s top billed talent have not been performing too well in the ratings, and the company was ignored by its parent in a memo looking back on 2012. The channel has begun resorting to randomly themed reality television for ratings, a move eaten up by Fox Business marketeers.

“FBN began airing ads aimed directly at that decision. The ads contrast its schedule, which remains business oriented throughout the evening, to that of CNBC. CNBC’s new line of reality shows, an attempt to boost ratings in off peak hours, is being exploited as a sign of weakness.”

Read more here.

Chris Roush

Chris Roush was the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He was previously Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.