Tucker Carlson Lands First Ad Deal

Facts

• Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson has reportedly struck a seven-figure ad deal with Public Square (PublicSq.), an online marketplace for companies with conservative values, for his new show on Twitter.¹
• Carlson and his former college roommate Neil Patel are reportedly looking to raise "hundreds of millions of dollars" to create a new media company with its own website, mobile app, and subscription service.²
• Carlson's Twitter show — the first episode of which received over 120M views, and the latest [where he interviewed Andrew Tate] nearly 75M views — allows users to watch short-form videos for free. His new company will reportedly enable subscribers to gain access to exclusive content.³
• Carlson, who brought in $77.5M in ad revenue for Fox in 2022, is now one of Twitter's highest-profile creators. The reports of the deal come after Twitter launched an ad-revenue-sharing program for creators last week.⁴
• In April, Carlson and Fox News parted ways after the network paid $787.5M to settle a lawsuit with Dominion Voting Systems for airing election-rigging claims regarding the 2020 election.⁵
• Former Fox News hosts Megyn Kelly and Bill O'Reilly have also signed deals with the separate company Red Seat Ventures — a firm that reportedly helped the journalists create their own media businesses.⁴

Sources: ¹CNBC, ²Business Insider, ³The Post Millennial, ⁴Wall Street Journal, and ⁵Reuters.

Narratives

• Pro-establishment narrative, as provided by Mediaite. Not only has Carlson become more outlandish in his narratives since leaving Fox, but he's further distanced himself from his former friends in the GOP and, thus, the majority of average Republican voters. Former New Jersey governor Chris Christie proved this briefly over the weekend by pointing out his flawed views on the Ukraine war. The Americans still care about fighting for democracy at home and abroad, but Carlson's extremist and increasingly niche rhetoric flies against a rules-based order of democratic nations.
• Establishment-critical narrative, as provided by PJ Media. Why would a man fired from CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News still be America's most popular political pundit? It might be because he continues his refusal to stop telling the truth. While the mainstream media and their friends in the elitist town of Washington — on both sides of the aisle — want to silence his views, the Americans, and, thankfully, a select few investors, are willing to put their money where their mouths are and fight to keep free speech alive. Carlson continues to fight the good fight against the powerful.