GB News: Alastair Stewart announces return after six weeks

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GB News launched just more than 10 weeks ago and has attracted both praise and criticism in its time on air. The channel pledges to “give a voice to the regional communities who felt left out of the national conversation”. However, campaigns were launched as GB News began calling on advertisers to boycott the channel.

Website boycottgbnews.org has a list of advertisers who have stopped showing adverts on the channel.

These include Bosch, Ikea, Kopparburg and Ovo Energy.

The latest to pull adverts was Sainsbury’s, which released a statement on August 6 saying: “Currently, we have no adverts scheduled with GB News. We had a campaign that has now ended.”

The site also lists companies like Halfords, National Lottery and Sky as still advertising.

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While those wishing to boycott GB News may take brands removing their adverts as a win – a recent survey found it may have actually given the channel a boost.

A poll of 1,000 people conducted by CT Group, commissioned by GB News, gave the statement “consumer goods brands should not adopt overt political views”.

Of those polled, 57 percent agreed that brands shouldn’t take on “overt political beliefs”.

And only 15 percent disagreed with the statement.

When those surveyed were asked if an advertiser boycott made people more likely to tune into the news network, 29 percent confirmed it would.

This was more than double the 14 percent who said they turned off GB News due to the advertiser controversy.

Commenting on the survey, Conservative MP Brendan Clarke-Smith said: “These findings show the risk businesses are taking when they allow their marketing strategies to be dictated by those engaged in cancel culture.

“As always, these online mobs create noise, which is given traction by the mainstream media, but the vast majority of normal people out there just want businesses to focus on selling them the right products at the right prices.”

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And GB News has still seen victories despite the campaign against advertisers.

The channel tweeted on August 22: “Today marks our 10th week on air!

“Already we’ve:

• Beaten Sky News’ peak audience ratings – 5 times!
• Got the highest watch time of any UK news channel
• Had almost 1 billion hits online

“We give a voice to people who felt left out of the national conversation.”

The channel has also introduced former UKIP leader Nigel Farage, who hosts his own show at 7pm from Mondays to Thursdays.

Mr Farage’s impact has certainly proved successful as on July 28, his 7pm slot attracted more viewers than BBC and Sky.

Mr Farage’s GB News show was watched by 107,700 viewers, while BBC’s Outside Source was watched by 93,300.

In comparison Sky’s show, Sky News Tonight was watched by 35,200 people.

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