Fox News Media's 2023 Upfront Invitation: Get on Board Our Omnichannel Bandwagon

The Big Message: Commercials on Fox News Channel, Fox Business Network and Fox Weather deliver more audience bang for the bucks advertisers spend. Chalk that up to both live content on each service and the ability to tap the omnichannel outreach of each service from Web sites and smart TV/device carriage to satellite radio and podcasts. "Live news remains at our core, but we've invested heavily in our platforms and added an entire universe of content," said Suzanne Scott, Fox News Media's Chief Executive Officer. "Overall, [we] remain committed to constantly expanding and improving our offerings, to meet the ever-increasing demand by viewers who consume news and culture in a fast-paced, sophisticated way and crave lifestyle programming as well."

Hosts: Scott delivered opening remarks, then passed the baton off to Jeff Collins, Executive Vice President of Ad Sales at Fox News Media for a quartet of panel sessions.

What Worked: On-camera talent front and center throughout the event, from an opening video montage of programming at all three channels to lively, thoughtful discussions on current events and how they come across to viewers. The opening panel, exploring how the 2024 Presidential election campaign may unfold, was a standout, with Special Report anchorperson Bret Baier suggesting a field of 8-10 Republican candidates for 2024, and other participants forecasting a serious third-party candidacy. Just as insightful: Lawrence Jones Cross Country host Lawrence Jones on how his weekly Saturday night series comes together; reporter Bill Melugin on his reporting of the U.S. Southern border crisis; Johnny "Joey" Jones, the retired Marine Staff Sergeant who appears on various Fox News Channel programs, giving his perspective on news developments as a veteran of Armed Forces duty, and The Faulkner Focus anchorperson/Outnumbered co-host Harris Faulkner on the impact growing up in a military family has on her news coverage.

What Also Worked: Starting the event with a tour of Fox Weather's impressive studio, giving attendees an intimate overview of how this service operates, complete with live updates on the forecast for NYC and around the nation. From there, attendees caught the rest of the event from the space where Gutfeld!, Fox News Channel's hit late-night roundtable talk show, originates.

What Didn't Work: A low profile of Fox Business Network, compared to the time and discussion set aside for Fox News Channel and Fox Weather. Given recent launches of new daytime and primetime series there, that came off a tad surprising. Nevertheless, FBN anchorperson-host Jackie DeAngelis did participate on a panel, and some of the new series received clip time in the opening montage.

Bonus Point: Rounding up The Five's co-hosts -- Dana Perino, Jesse Watters, Jessica Tarlov, Jeanine Pirro and Greg Gutfeld -- for the closing panel session.

Data Points: Fox News Channel has been the top-viewed all-news cable network for 21 years, and the No. 1 channel among cable-distributed services for the seventh straight year, with The Five becoming king of non-primetime cable programs among viewers, and Gutfeld!drawing more than two million viewers in late evening. Online, Fox News Media's Web sites draw more than 100 million unique viewers.

News: Fox Weather has picked up national carriage on cable systems owned by Altice USA and Charter Communications (under the Optimum and Spectrum brands, respectively), as well as through LG smart TV sets. Expect more podcast series to debut on Fox News Audio in the months ahead, joining 24 series launched over the last year.

Parting Words:

"If you're still buying Fox News Channel with your cable [ad] budget, or your cable news budget, it's a bit like going to Amazon.com and only buying books. We have a lot more to offer these days." -- Fox News Media Advertising Sales Executive Vice President Jeff Collins

"It's really fun. It's something special to have a show where the echo chamber isn't happening." -- Jessica Tarlov, co-host on The Five

"I think [Gutfeld!] is the freshest show on TV. Nobody tells us what to do." -- Gutfeld! host/The Five co-host Greg Gutfeld

"We have grown into an omnichannel. You can access weather info from any device anytime, and always free." -- Janice Dean, senior Fox News Media meteorologist

"What can we do to help veterans? Be a country worth serving. Be people worth dying for." -- Johnny "Joey" Jones, retired Marine Staff Sergeant

"If Cross Country could get all of those people from middle America and urban America into one room, they would realize they are on the same side." -- Lawrence Jones Cross Country host Lawrence Jones

Pictured at top, left to right: Fox News Media Executive Vice President of Ad Sales, Jeff Collins; Co-host of The Five and America’s Newsroom, Dana Perino; Fox News Media CEO Suzanne Scott; Host of Lawrence Jones Cross Country, Lawrence Jones, and Fox News National Correspondent Bill Melugin. (Photo courtesy of Fox News Media)

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