A Rather Public Spat
Let’s be clear about what’s happening here. The lawsuit against News Corp isn’t just a headline. It’s a massive, stinking cloud of uncertainty. And if there’s one thing advertisers dislike more than bad coffee, it’s uncertainty. They get nervous. They start looking for safer places to park their budgets, places that aren’t associated with a messy, public legal battle.
This isn’t rocket science. It’s human nature. When your favourite pub gets a bad reputation, you find a new local. The same principle applies to news and entertainment. Viewers start to drift, and advertisers, who are paid to follow those viewers, drift right along with them. The market share doesn’t just vanish into thin air, it simply relocates. The question for us is, where to?