While Fox News is having a very hectic holiday season, thanks to a busy 2020 election cycle and regular impeachment hearings, the company’s streaming service Fox Nation is hoping to bolster its subscription numbers by leaning into more non-news programming with its “All American Christmas” promotions.
The service is in the middle of a “25 Days of Christmas” programming stunt, including a daily Fox Nation “Advent Calendar” hosted by Dr. Bill Bennett. The service also has a number of Christmas-theme specials, including documentaries about Bethlehem and World War II, and a Fox & Friends-hosted tree lighting special outside the company’s New York headquarters.
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Fox News has also acquired some holiday library content from other rights-holders for the service, including The 10th Anniversary Johnny Cash Christmas Special, from 1985, and Happy Holidays With Bing and Frank, a TV special hosted by Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby that originally ran on ABC in 1957.
While Fox Nation initially launched with extensions of its political commentary programming and documentary specials, it has since begun expanding its content to include other types of shows that may appeal to a similar audience. Nancy Grace will simulcast her radio show for the service, while former Grey’s Anatomy star Isaiah Washington will host a travel and cooking show for the service. Country music star John Rich has also signed on to host a program for the streamer.
At a conference hosted by UBS earlier this week, Fox Corp. CFO Steven Tomsic said the conversion rate for Fox Nation is “great,” at around 80 percent, but that the company is debating ways to grow its reach.
“Do we expand it and make it bigger and broader and make it appeal to a wider part of middle America? That is an active debate for us,” he said. By expanding the service’s programming to include acquired Christmas fare, travel shows and other genres, Fox News appears to be trying just that.
