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AUGUST 24 , 2 019 | WWW.BILLBOARD.COM 19
O
N THE MORNING OF
July 26, Christian hard-
rock band Skillet gave
an interview to and
performed on Fox News channel’s
Fox & Friends All-American
Summer Concert Series in Midtown
Manhattan. For the next few hours,
the group was the most-searched
act on iTunes — and preorders for
its album Victorious, due out the
following week, doubled.
Other acts have seen similarly
impressive boosts. Scotty
McCreery, the American Idol
winner turned country star, has
played the series a few times, most
recently in 2018, and has “always
seen sales results from the television
broadcast,” according to manager
Scott Stem. “It definitely moved the
needle for him.”
Fox News’ showcase doesn’t get
the mega-superstars that appear
on the summer concert series of
Good Morning America (GMA) or
To d a y, which this season featured
the likes of BTS, Taylor Swift,
Chance the Rapper, Lizzo and
Jennifer Lopez. But for the past 11
BY MELINDA NEWMAN
Putting Politics Aside
Fox News’ summer concert series has become a go-to source of promotion for country,
Christian and veteran rock acts — but some artists are staying away
years, Fox & Friends has rolled out
the welcome mat for well-known
and developing contemporary
country and Christian artists, as well
as veteran pop and rock acts. This
summer, 11 of its 15 performers were
country — including The Charlie
Daniels Band, Big & Rich and
newcomers Runaway June — and in
recent years, it also has drawn such
heritage rockers as Lynyrd Skynyrd,
Alice Cooper and 3 Doors Down,
as well as pop artists like Hanson
and Phillip Phillips.
“We embrace all kinds of music,”
says AJ Hall, coordinating producer
for Fox & Friends, who has booked
the concert series since 2011. “I’m
giving them the opportunity to
promote whatever they want. For a
lot of people, that’s tied to charities.
They know they’re on the No. 1
morning show on cable.”
Fox & Friends has been the top
cable news program in its time
slot for a staggering 213 months
straight, according to Nielsen Media
Research, and draws an average
of 1.4 million viewers, while its
network competitors, ABC’s GMA
and NBC’s To d a y, each draw nearly
4 million viewers daily.
Contrary to industry norms,
Hall doesn’t mind if artists play
other morning shows, so some acts
use Fox & Friends — which can
accommodate an audience of 500
and serves barbecue to fans for
breakfast — to complement other TV
appearances. After Runaway June
performed on To d a y in late 2018,
early in the life cycle of single “Buy
My Own Drinks,” manager Fletcher
Foster was looking for another
appearance as the song climbed the
charts. “It was really an opportunity
for us to have another television hit
on this song as it was going top 10
on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart.
Not only did we perform the song,
but there were several bumpers with
songs from the album that had just
come out two weeks earlier to expose
the record.”
Managers also say Fox & Friends’
production costs run lower than the
broadcast shows’, making it a more
prudent economic choice, especially
because shows often pass those
expenses on to acts or their labels,
Can Swift Move
A Million?
pg.20
Live Nation
Buys OCESA
pg.22
Def Jam’s GM
On The Future
pg.24
T o p l i n e
MARKET WATCH
22.31B
0.4%
TOTAL ON-DEMAND STREAMS
WEEK OVER WEEK
Number of audio and video
on-demand streams for
the week ending Aug. 15.
12.79M
EVEN
ALBUM CONSUMPTION UNITS
WEEK OVER WEEK
Album sales plus track-equivalent
albums plus audio
streaming-equivalent albums
for the week ending Aug. 15.
685.7B
32.3%
TOTAL ON-DEMAND STREAMS
YEAR OVER YEAR TO DATE
Number of audio and video
streams for 2019 so far over
the same period in 2018.
Big Kenny of Big &
Rich at the Fox &
Friends All-American
Concert Series in July.