At a Saturday evening town hall meeting led by Bari Weiss, the recently appointed executive editor of CBS News, most of Madison Avenue looked for an off-ramp.
The show included an in-depth interview with Erika Kirk, CEO of the conservative advocacy organization Turning Point USA and widow of Charlie Kirk, the group’s former leader. He was assassinated during an event hosted by the organization at Utah Valley University, highlighting the political and cultural divisions present in the United States.
The event marked a new offering from CBS News. The organization does not generally organize public meetings or debates on current issues or with current affairs players. And the choice of Weiss as moderator also raised eyebrows, because in most modern television media, key editorial staff stay off camera, rather than appearing in front of it.
More may be on the way. During the show, Weiss told viewers that “CBS is going to have a lot more conversations like this in the weeks and months to come, so stay tuned. More town hall meetings. More debates. More discussions about the things that matter.” This would suggest that CBS is considering dedicating more hours to the programs.
The news special aired Saturday at 8 p.m., one of the least watched times on television. And that may have contributed to a relative dearth of high-profile advertisers appearing to support the show. During the hour, commercial breaks were largely filled with direct-response commercials, including the dietary supplement SuperBeets; HomeServe.com home repair service; and CarFax, a provider of automobile ownership data. Viewers of the television show on WCBS, CBS’ flagship station in New York, even saw an advertisement for Chia Pet, the terracotta figurine that sprouts a plant after a few weeks.
Direct response advertisers typically pay lower prices in exchange for allowing television networks to air their ads when convenient. A burst of commercials appearing in a program usually indicates that the network is unable to field more mainstream support for the content it has chosen to broadcast.
A wealthier class of sponsors was evident during the first commercial break airing at 9 p.m. on CBS, a rebroadcast of a 2024 episode of “48 Hours.” Marketers in attendance included Amazon, Ferrero Group and Procter & Gamble. A direct response marketer, Operation Smile, a nonprofit medical services organization, also appeared.
CBS News’ ability to find sponsors 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’t interested in the first such program, would they want to join in subsequent efforts?
Other marketers who showed up at CBS News’ Erika Kirk’s town hall included companies whose products and services could match the viewers who watched the show. Among the town hall sponsors were the Conservative Heritage Foundation; Hallow, a mobile application for Christian prayer; “David,” a new animated film from Angel Studios, which specializes in faith-based content; and the International Community of Christians and Jews. A small handful of more mainstream advertisers, including Spotify and TikTok, were also present.
CBS’s interest in such fare goes against the grain. Television news has become something of a hot potato on Madison Avenue in recent years, with marketers wary of placing their ads on programs tied to war reporting, cultural divisions and the loud monologues of partisan opinion hosts. One outlet, Fox Corp.’s Fox News, has bucked the trend in recent months, attracting new advertisers to its shows while building a sizable live audience around its news and opinion broadcasts.
The problem, media buyers and television sales executives say, is the continued polarization of American society, and the backlash advertisers can experience when consumers perceive their desire to present their products to viewers as support for a conservative or liberal point of view. Marketers are also worried about seeing their glitzy ads placed next to segments about the war in Ukraine, a growing wave of mass shootings, climate change and debates over cultural values.
