One week after Samantha Bee’s apology for calling Ivanka Trump a “feckless c-t,” her TBS late-night show “Full Frontal” saw its advertiser count remain stagnant.
Universal and PlayStation advertised during the show again (Universal promoted “The First Purge” after running a “Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom” promo last week). The other national advertisers this week included New Line Cinema’s “Tag” and Wendy’s.
That means for the second week in a row, “Full Frontal” had roughly one-third of its usual amount of national advertisers. TBS had expected the ad count to return back to normal following Bee’s apology. Turner did not immediately respond to TheWrap’s request for comment.
The May 30 episode during which Bee’s widely publicized slur aired featured a much larger amount of ads from bigger brands, including Orkin, Taco Bell, Jim Beam, Haagen Dazs, State Farm and Apple. State Farm, along with Autotrader, have since suspended their advertising on the program. Autotrader told TheWrap Wednesday that it’s stance hasn’t changed. State Farm did not immediately respond when asked if they would return to the show.
Another potential issue that could be keeping advertisers away is that Bee’s ratings may not justify the potential headache from angry consumers still fuming over Bee’s slur.
Year-to-date, Bee’s Nielsen ratings are down 34 percent among adults ages 18-49, which is the demographic most-coveted by primetime advertisers. Isolating just millennials, a label assigned to adults ages 18-34, she’s shed a whopping 47 percent — or nearly half — of her 2017 viewership.
In terms of total viewers, “Full Frontal” is down 29 percent year over year.