As John Avlon at The Daily Beast notes, “But this latest controversy comes at a particularly difficult time for right-wing talk radio. They are playing to a (sometimes literally) dying demographic. Rush & Co. rate best among old, white males. They have been steadily losing women and young listeners, who are alienated by the angry, negative, obsessive approach to political conservations. Add to that the fact that women ages 24–55 are the prize advertising demographic, and you have a perfect storm emerging after Limbaugh’s Sandra Fluke comments.” Limbaugh has now lost most of his major big bucks national advertisers and enough of the locals are pulling out to make paying his annual $100 million salary a loss for Premiere Radio Networks and parent Clear Channel (owned by Mitt Romney’s old stomping grounds Bain Capital). As Avlon also writes: “…the irony is that the same market forces that right-wing talk-radio hosts champion are helping to seal their fate. Advertisers are abandoning the shows because they no longer want to be associated with the hyperpartisan—and occasionally hateful—rhetoric. They are finally drawing a line because consumers are starting to take a stand.” Irony with bells on — as I’ve written before, live by the free market sword, die by the free market sword. Rush has also refused to learn the lesson of evolution; adapt or cease to exist — this loudmouthed dinosaur is doing the same bits he was doing 20 years ago. Times have changed and Limbaugh hasn’t. C’est la vie. Here’s your hat, Rush, there’s the door.
Rush Limbaugh Scandal Proves Contagious for Talk-Radio Advertisers
Ninety-eight major advertisers—including Ford and Geico—will no longer air spots on Premiere Networks’ ‘offensive’ programs. Insiders say the loss will rock right-wing talk radio.
by John Avlon
The Daily Beast
Mar 10, 2012Rush Limbaugh made the right-wing talk-radio industry, and he just might break it.
Because now the fallout from the “slut” slurs against Sandra Fluke is extending to the entire political shock-jock genre.
Premiere Networks, which distributes Limbaugh as well as a host of other right-wing talkers, sent an email out to its affiliates early Friday listing 98 large corporations that have requested their ads appear only on “programs free of content that you know are deemed to be offensive or controversial (for example, Mark Levin, Rush Limbaugh, Tom Leykis, Michael Savage, Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity).”
This is big. According to the radio-industry website Radio-Info.com, which first posted excerpts of the Premiere memo, among the 98 companies that have decided to no longer sponsor these programs are “carmakers (Ford, GM, Toyota), insurance companies (Allstate, Geico, Prudential, State Farm), and restaurants (McDonald’s, Subway).” Together, these talk-radio advertising staples represent millions of dollars in revenue.
Read the rest here.
Copyright 2012 John Avlon and The Daily Beast.