The success of Fox Business — can it last?

Maxwell Tani of Business Insider writes about Fox Business Network on its 10th anniversary and interviewed former employees who wondered how long the current strategy of focusing more on politics will be successful.

Tani writes, “The moment typified what some critics and others view as a key formula to FBN’s success: Its embrace of the political red meat that tantalizes cable news viewers.

“FBN beat CNBC — the longtime television business news juggernaut — in total viewers for a week for the first time in September 2016, a milestone that it has repeated consistently for the past year. The network is profitable and has 17 times the number of advertisers it did when it launched a decade ago, and has won some key recent business news days, including on Snapchat IPO’s and when the Dow crossed recent milestones.

“FBN’s competitors privately acknowledge the network’s success in wooing a larger viewing audience. But critics, including more than a half-dozen former employees, suggest that the network has gotten there by deviating from its implied purpose.

“‘The question is, how much longer can you call it a business network?’ one former top-level employee asked, requesting anonymity to speak freely about working at FBN.”

Read more here.