Before it aired one second of programming three years ago, media pundits and analysts were already making their minds up about Fox Weather — and their reactions were skeptical at best.
There were stories published by the New York Times, NPR and others that suggested the coverage on Fox Weather would be influenced by the Fox News Channel, the cable network that is co-operated by Fox News Media and whose prime-time commentary programming is the original brand of hard conservative. There were concerns raised by some in the industry that Fox Weather would ignore, or take a light approach, to the realities of climate change, or that its coverage of extreme weather would amount to nothing more than disaster porn. On the business side, some analysts wondered if there was enough data that showed potential viewer interest in a free-to-aceess weather network.
Over the past 36 months, Fox Weather has proven the doubters wrong. No, the channel does not air political aspersions that suggest climate change is a hoax — in fact, Fox Weather meteorologists, reporters have produced story after story after story that prove a direct correlation between climate change and extreme weather. Data scientists like meteorologist and hurricane expert Bryan Norcross allow real science to guide their coverage, breaking down complicated weather phenomenon and severe storms in a way that is easily digestible to viewers who are most-likely to be impacted by them.
And business has never been better, with Fox Weather seeing its viewership and revenue grow exponentially on a year-over basis. Specific metrics are hard to come by, because Fox includes the channel with other parts of its television business (which also includes the news network, Fox Sports and the Fox TV network). But publicly-available data on social media reveal Fox Weather has taken the web by storm, producing live and short-form video content that reaches 1.1 million followers on TikTok, more than 800,000 followers on YouTube and nearly a half-million followers on Facebook and Instagram combined.
Of course, Fox Weather is not the first to offer around-the-clock weather information on TV. The Weather Channel has done that for more than four decades on cable, and other channels like AccuWeather Now and WeatherNation offer weather forecasts that reach streaming TV users, too.
What sets Fox Weather apart are its strategies for distribution and programming. On some streaming channels, the closest thing to “live coverage,” outside of breaking news, are short-form regional forecasts that run on a loop and are updated every few hours. Access to The Weather Channel requires a subscription to a pay TV provider that carries the channel, or a subscription to The Weather Channel’s direct-to-consumer app (it costs $3 per month).
By comparison, most of Fox Weather’s weekday schedule consists of live programming. While the channel is available on some cable and satellite platforms, it is also accessible on free services like YouTube, where it is the only weather news outlet that streams around-the-clock.
Fox Weather takes the position that, in an era where people can easily get current conditions and forecasts by simply opening a free app on their phone, that free app should be Fox Weather. The company could have built an app, injected it with disaster videos from its editorial partner Storyful, sold some ads, and called it a day. But that is not what Fox News Media did. Instead, it has worked over three years to develop a brand that stands out from the rest — one where live coverage of routine weather and severe storms are made interesting through a combination of cutting-edge technology and a team of forecasters and reporters who incorporate their daily knowledge of all things climate into human interest stories that are produced and aired on a daily basis.
Fox Weather’s dignified approach to covering severe storms and their aftermath have won over viewers who might otherwise not watch Fox’s cable news or sports channels. And it’s clear that the channels, while backed by Fox News Media, stands on its own.
On the three-year anniversary of the channel’s launch, The Desk spoke with Sharri Berg, the President of Fox Weather, to gain more insight into Fox News Media’s development of the service, how Fox Weather synergizes with and complements other areas of Fox, and how Fox Weather engages viewers beyond its severe storm coverage.
This article has been edited for clarity and flow.
Matthew Keys, The Desk: Let’s start at the very beginning. When I first started covering Fox Weather, it was more than three years ago, when the channel was still in the development stage. I think the idea of a free streaming weather network raised some eyebrows, people were wondering if it was really going to work. Three years later, I think Fox Weather has proven that, yes, it does work. How did this all come together?
Sharri Berg, Fox Weather: Fox Weather was a part of Fox News Media CEO Suzanne Scott’s vision to superserve the Fox News audience with an expanded ecosystem of content under the Fox brand. She launched Fox Nation as a complimentary platform to the Fox News Channel, and she saw Fox Weather as another natural extension for the audience as a stand-alone network and also as a service to the Fox properties. She has always been focused on growing the audience and growing the business as a whole, and asked me to build a weather platform that reaches and appeals to every possible consumer on every possible device. We of course had the incredible support and expertise of our amazing colleagues across every department of Fox News Media, but Suzanne’s blueprint for elevating the everyday weather experience in Fox Weather is what you see today.
When we were looking at developing a weather service, we started with the idea that we want to be available for every audience that cares about weather. Most people check an app every day, so we figured, that’s how you enter the marketplace. With the Fox Weather app, that’s our first touchpoint. From there, we looked at the idea of a cable channel. That was around the time that FAST (free, ad-supported streaming TV) was really starting to take off, there were already a lot of news channels on FAST. Our strategy shifted to an omnichannel plan, where our channel would be available for all users, on all devices — every possible platform where people consume news. That includes your phone, your laptop, your iPad, radio, all the major FAST services, vMVPDs and cable TV platforms.
Ubiquitous distribution has become a pretty common strategy these days. That’s what our business model was built on — omnichannel, which has true ubiquity. It’s a very modern approach to reaching consumers who care about weather — cord-lovers, cord-cutters and cord-nevers. We feel like weather information shouldn’t be platform-specific or device-specific, and through an omnichannel strategy, we feel it’s only growth from here.
Matthew Keys, The Desk: Around the time that Fox Weather was being developed, there were a few FAST channels covering climate and weather — WeatherNation, AccuWeather Now, the Weather Channel en Español. The common theme with most of these channels is that they’d use a combination of computer-generated forecasts and recorded packages that lasted a few minutes, and then looped endlessly.
When Fox Weather launched, there was a little bit of that programming, too — there was Night Light, which was computer-generated and ran in the overnight hours. But what made the channel instantly stand out is that nearly all the programming during the day was, and still is, live. That requires a tremendous amount of resources in terms of talent, behind-the-scenes staff and equipment. Now that we’re at the three-year point, do you feel that the commitment of talent and resources is starting to pay off?
Sharri Berg, Fox Weather: We always examined the weather space from its potential. We always thought that there was much more potential than what was in the market.
At Fox, news is in our DNA. We have maps, we have automation, we have forecasts, but we also go beyond the forecasts and the daily weather updates to talk about the human connection. The idea that we’re weathering things together.
With that idea in mind, we’re very specific about the investments we made and make. We think about what will drive and enhance the audience experience and understanding of what’s going on.
Live programming is also part of our DNA. It’s the best opportunity for us — if you’re looking for live forecasts, you can’t be asleep overnight, right? On that note, we have a very strong, innovative and collaborative team who have come up with ways to automate things internally, so we can focus on our investments on screen and in the field.
Matthew Keys, The Desk: I want to talk about programming and talent in a moment first, but let’s circle back to distribution. From the start, Fox Weather was focused on distribution across four or five different platforms — YouTube, the Roku Channel and a handful of others.
Now, you’re on pay TV platforms like DirecTV and Verizon Fios. You’re simulcasting on the Fox Business Network. You’re around-the-clock as a multicast option on Fox owned-and-operated stations across the country. There are Fox Weather audio simulcasts on the TuneIn and Audacy apps. And you’ve expanded distribution to just about every FAST platform on the market, including Plex, Samsung TV Plus, Vizio WatchFree TV, Freevee, TCL TV Plus, Xumo Play, Pluto TV, LG Channels — I could go on.
I’m wondering what the response has been to Fox Weather, now that it’s available just about everywhere, and what are we likely to see in the future as this strategy plays out?
Sharri Berg, Fox Weather: When we started, we had a three-year plan in terms of having different distribution partners, whether it was a FAST platform or a traditional cable TV service, or a multicast channel on broadcast TV. Over time, we’ve steadily worked to get Fox Weather everywhere. We’ve heard people say things like, “you can’t be everywhere, and you can’t be everything to everyone.” Well, yes, you can. Weather is a commodity, right? It affects everyone. So, we believe you have to be easily available, you have to offer access to the brand without friction. That means eliminating the need to buy a subscription or remember a password.
We started with the concept that Fox Weather should be in the palm of your hand. So, we started with an app. Now, we feel Fox Weather should be in as many places as possible — the living room, on your laptop, anywhere you are. Every time we add a new place, we update our “How to watch Fox Weather” guidance, so viewers know where they can find us.
We’re three years in now, and we’ve got near-ubiquitous distribution. We like to say, if we’re not on a platform, it’s not us.
That said, people are finding us. During Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton, I saw the people commenting on social media and in other places, and they’re astonished that Fox has a weather service. They’re finding us on Pluto TV. They’re noticing that we’re around-the-clock. They’re also noticing that we stay after the storm — one person said we’ve been live all weekend in North Carolina, and it’s gratifying to see.
That’s what near-ubiquitous distribution does. Once people find us, they’re sticking with us. It’s easier for people to find us. There’s no channel number to remember. It’s a new and really dynamic ecosystem, and we’ve gotten some incredible feedback.
Matthew Keys, The Desk: It occurs to me, as we’re talking, that the strategy of putting Fox Weather on traditional pay TV — cable and satellite, and streaming cable-like services — is really smart. I think that business will be around for a pretty long time, but it’s clear that people are churning out at a good rate as streaming services become more-prominent. As people churn out, if they’re used to watching Fox Weather on cable or satellite or streaming cable-like services, they’re still going to be able to watch Fox Weather when they cut the cord, because it’s available on so many FAST platforms and the Fox Weather app for phones.
Sharri Berg, Fox Weather: Yes, having a cable footprint is important to Fox Weather. And, yes, there is still an audience on cable and satellite!
Also, each platform — cable, satellite vMVPD, FAST — is different. They all have different user interfaces and search menus and ways of presenting content and channels. Some of them are focused on VOD. Some are focused on live. They all have a unique viewer ecosystem, and every time we launch on a new platform, it takes us a little bit of time to understand how people find us and viewing habits across services. But we do evaluate the data on consumption and trends. The more we understand what works, the better the experience will be for the consumer.
During severe weather, we contact each of our partner platforms; sometimes, they’ll feature us at the top of the funnel before a major event. They’ll do push alerts that send people to Fox Weather. That’s critical, even for an audience that doesn’t typically watch the news. They’re exposing the audience to Fox Weather, and we’re building on those initial relationships, making it clear that we’re aggressive, we’re right there in the storm, we’re live. I think those relationships are important.
Matthew Keys, The Desk: That sets up a nice transition into the programming Fox Weather carries. There is always something happening every day, and with an event like Hurricane Milton, there’s advance notice — usually a few days notice — that the storm is coming. I remember watching the coverage, as Milton was forming, and noting how surprised the forecasters were at the rapid intensification of the storm. Which allowed Fox Weather and others to come up with game plans, get into position, and cover the storm. But those types of storms don’t happen every day. Can you talk about the strategy around programming when things are a bit quieter?
Sharri Berg, Fox Weather: It goes back to the idea that, at Fox, news is in our DNA. We’re the only weather news service, the only weather news ecosystem, that goes beyond forecasting. We produce stories that concern weather events, like Hurricane Milton, and we stay long after the storm is done. The same is true for tornadoes, or floods, or atmospheric river events. It’s not just about what’s to come, it’s also about, what comes afterward?
We look at the schedule as, we’re in “wartime” programming during severe weather, when we’re live, and then we have “peacetime” programming that keeps viewers engage by covering the aftermath, the human interest stories that showcase how the storm affected a community. There’s heart to our stories, and it goes well beyond forecast models.
There are a lot of opportunities with peacetime programming. Sports, for one, taking a look at how sports are affected by the weather. We have the “Stormin the Field” sports weather podcast, produced in the Fox News Radio studio. A while ago, we started offering weekend forecasts that were tied to upcoming NFL games. We’ll bring the Fox Sports and OutKick guys in, to talk about the upcoming games and what could happen based on predicted weather conditions. We do branded weather forecasts for the World Series, the Bassmaster Elite Series tournament, the Tennis Channel, the Big Ten Network. Even the Pickleball Channel has our talent and forecasts. We sent Nick Kosir to one of their tournaments recently, on a really hot day.
But, as mentioned, it goes beyond forecasts. We’re storytellers. We’ve celebrated America’s National Parks; we sent Abby Hornaeck to go rock climbing at Yosemite. We had Robert Ray drive the Fox Weather Beast across the country, where he went to the Grand Canyon and explored the steep drop in temperatures based on elevation. We do fun, seasonal programming involving Fox News personalities and their pets — the weather affects everyone, event pets!
Matthew Keys, The Desk: Going back to sports for a minute — this is the first year that my partner and I are in a fantasy sports league, and we take it very seriously. We watched football for about two years before we felt comfortable joining a league.
I do a lot of research before we decide on who is in our starting line-up and who is on the bench. I’ll see who the players are playing against each week, and where those games are played. Are they playing in an open stadium or an indoor stadium? Does the stadium have a retractable roof? That can throw things off a bit. If they’re playing outdoors, will it be sunny? Will it be cloudy? Is it going to rain? What’s the humidity like? If you’re the Buffalo Bills, and you’re playing in Miami, and it’s really humid, stands to reason the Dolphins are going to play better, right? Well, it didn’t pan out that way in September, but we’re still number one in overall points. Looking up the forecasts in the Fox Weather app is probably a big reason why we’re ahead, even if it is a smaller part of our overall strategy.
Sharri Berg, Fox Weather: We have a forecast called ROWI, or Risk of Weather Impact. Our meteorologists take a deeper dive into the anticipated or actual weather conditions at major events, like football games or NASCAR races, and we look at how things are susceptible to that weather. We look at how a tennis player might perform during a match, or how a car might drive on a hot or slick racetrack. In the fourth quarter of a football game, will the wind impact a throw if it’s from the west side of the stadium? Things like that. Utilizing the ROWI forecast, our meteorologists will assign the weather forecast based on a “low risk,” “medium risk” or “high risk” of those conditions impacting an event.
With “Storming the Field,” we took our meteorologists Ian Oliver and Steve Bender, and took the ROWI forecast, and built on the idea of how weather might impact football games. We started hearing conversations around the office about how weather might impact this game or that game, and we turned those discussions into a show. As I mentioned, it’s produced in the Fox News Radio studio, which is small — it has enough room for two fixed cameras, but you don’t really need anything more than that. We put it on the streaming channel, and we have it on YouTube, and we have it on podcast platforms — it is part of our strategy of reaching our audience, wherever they are.
That’s the freedom we have with our business model. We have streaming shows, and we have podcasts. Some things work, and some things don’t. On the things that don’t, we say to ourselves, well, we won’t do that again — and then we move on to another thing. Everything takes a little bit of time to build up. But with a great product, awareness and some word of mouth, that will get you there.
Matthew Keys, The Desk: It’s better than word of mouth, though, because you have the ability to synergize with other parts of the business. You mentioned some already — the forecasts during the World Series, and the NFL games, and the Big Ten Network.
During Hurricane Helene, there was a segment where Bob van Dillen was reporting from a flooded out road in Atlanta, and a woman got stranded in the water. That whole thing played out live during “Fox & Friends” on the Fox News Channel, and then Bob ended his segment early and rescued the woman from her car. What happened next played out on Fox Weather — the clip of the rescue was played, and the woman was reunited with her husband. The story started on Fox News, and concluded on Fox Weather.
Fox Weather meteorologist @BobVanDillen heard a woman screaming for help during a live report on "Fox & Friends." Her car became stuck in flood water, and he went in to save her.
— TheDesk.net (@TheDeskDotNet) September 28, 2024
Read more: https://t.co/T9F3abqMkt pic.twitter.com/GTIh7wL4hT
That segment wound up being repeated on Fox News, Fox Weather and a good number of Fox stations and affiliates, including the Atlanta station (WAGA, Channel 5), which, coincidentally, Fox owns. It also owns the stations in Tampa Bay and Orlando, two Florida cities affected by Hurricanes Helene and Milton.
We’ve seen the same play out in other parts of the country. When there are serious snow storms in Washington state, Fox Weather pulls local reports and video from KCPQ (Channel 13), the Fox-owned station in Seattle. When an atmospheric river hits the San Francisco Bay Area, Fox owns the station there. If there’s a wildfire in Orange County, Fox owns the station there. Fox Weather benefits from those stations being part of the company, and those stations benefit from the resources of Fox Weather as well. The same is true for affiliates — stations that carry Fox programming, but aren’t owned by the network. That ecosystem is unrivaled, and it gives Fox Weather tremendous reach.
Sharri Berg, Fox Weather: That’s right. It goes back to our goals: Having immense reach, making Fox Weather as accessible as possible, creating a weather product for the modern consumer. It’s backed by the resources and the DNA that is Fox Corporation. I can think of no other group that is as big as Fox News Media.
I think you wrote not too long ago that there were some big-name talents moving over to Fox Weather from other outlets, people like Bryan Norcross, who is our storm specialist, and Mike Seidel. We actually didn’t have time to prepare an announcement that we hired Mike, because Tropical Storm Debby formed, and we immediately dispatched him to cover the storm on location. By the time we had an announcement out, Mike had already been on air, covering what ultimately became Hurricane Debby.
I was part of the launch team at Fox News, and we had a very entrepreneurial spirit then. That never went away, and we’ve tapped into that at Fox Weather, to build a brand and a culture that people want to join. We have a team that is collaborative and flexible, and I think that’s very unusual, but also really attractive, in the news business.
Often, our talent also have connections to the places where they’re stationed. Bob van Dillen, he has roots in Atlanta. Ian Oliver, who manned our Hurricane Helen coverage, is from Tampa, so we sent him there. We don’t just have meteorologists that we parachute in whenever there’s severe weather; we tap into their roots and their expertise, and deploy them where it makes sense, where they’re already familiar, whenever possible.
Doing that allows us to make an even deeper connection with our audience. It doesn’t matter if we’re covering a storm during the day or overnight, we’re going through these intense experiences together.
Matthew Keys, The Desk: Fox Weather also has a lot of novel technology that you utilize to enhance your storytelling and your forecasts, and to deliver live reports during severe weather where others might find it difficult, if not impossible, to get out a signal. Can you talk a bit about the technology side of things?
Sharri Berg, Fox Weather: We have a very diverse toolkit that we use for shooting, editing and transmission. You mentioned the Fox Weather Beast earlier, which are Ford F-250 storm chasing vehicles that we’ve kitted out with multiple cameras, communications gear and a variety of transmission tools, including a mounted satellite dish. We also utilize Starlink satellite dishes — Starlink is definitely the go-to choice because of its portability, and, when coupled with LiveU transmission packs, we’re able to go live even in the worst conditions. We have diverse cell phone plans from different carriers, and we have satellite phones, too.
We always have a way to transmit, and we keep things as portable as we can. We do that for safety reasons, too; we need to be nimble, so we can quickly move to another location. We strategize based on forecasts, and we utilize radar and on-the-ground reports to decide where to go. There is constant communication between our Forecast Center in New York City and our teams out in the field.
We’re proud to have a very polished presenting on our air, in terms of forecasts and weather graphics and things like that. But, when it comes to getting life-saving information to the field, and to our viewers, we’ll do what we have to do. We’ll tether an iPhone 15 Pro to a hotspot and go live from that — and we’ve done that.
We also utilize an exclusive network of storm chasers. During major hurricanes, one of our storm trackers, Mark Sudduth, will install a robust network of Nest cameras in the bulls-eye zone. Mark, of course, loses some of the cameras, but those cameras can deliver live footage that really capture the raw power of the conditions, and they have the ability to build incredible time-lapse videos that enhance our storytelling.
Our own correspondents, when they’re not on-air, also shoot behind-the-scenes footage using their phones. They use those videos to further engage the audience in key moments, on social media or wherever the audience is, during breaking news and the aftermath of an event. During Hurricane Debbie, I remember looking at the TV, and there’s one of our exclusive storm trackers, Brandon Copic, and he’s parked his truck to help remove tree debris from the road. The truck has a camera, and it’s capturing the removal live, which we had on our air — and, in the shot, I see Mike Seidel is with Brandon, and he’s filming the whole thing on his iPhone.
That’s another way we use our technology — we use it to capture these incredible behind-the-scenes videos, and deliver them to our audience on social media and on our air. We don’t want to miss a single moment of what’s happening, because weather is a continuous story.
To that end, because our business model is so nimble, we can deliver live coverage and stories through different platforms, some of which we also mentioned. We’re the only continuous weather-focused network that streams around-the-clock on YouTube. During one major hurricane, we also went live from TikTok, and we were there for hours. We also offered an audio simulcast of our Fox Weather channel to Fox News Radio affiliates during the storm — we had 625 AM and FM radio affiliates who were able to take that feed. And we have continuous audio simulcasts on TuneIn and Audacy. We have the ability to go live from these platforms, because we’re not encumbered by cable distribution contracts. TikTok and YouTube and radio are totally different audiences, but they want to know what’s going on just as much as someone on another platform.
Once the audience discovers us, we try to keep them engaged with our talent, with our approach to forecasting and storytelling, with our way of making the weather interesting and informative and relatable. They’re different services, but we believe that if you can find ways to appeal to someone on TikTok, you can find ways to appeal to someone on cable. And, then, you wind up having a much bigger audience than you would if you just focused on one platform.
Matthew Keys, The Desk: Having a big audience is great, but the service also has to earn money, too, right? I’m sure people wonder how a channel devoted to around-the-clock weather coverage is able to make money when the service is offered for free?
Sharri Berg, Fox Weather: It’s definitely a unique business model. I will say, as we launch on more platforms, the audience grows, and our revenue has grown year-over-year. We’re seeing success across our revenue opportunities.
Keep in mind, while the channel is ad-supported, we’re not limited to just streaming. We have ad sales opportunities on FAST platforms, and also on vMVPD platforms and on linear TV. We also have a robust slate of digital ad products, including display and video advertising. We have contextual sponsorship opportunities. We have syndication opportunities. We have a lot of different levers that we continue to utilize, and we’re constantly bringing on board new advertisers. I am really encouraged and gratified to have such great advertisers and sponsors, and we’re beginning to build up some great brand partnerships as well.
The key to all of this is staying lean and nimble. Push the adoption of new technology, and automate the parts of our processes where it makes sense, so that what you see in app and on screen is an impactful product. Operating with efficiency and balance is an ongoing challenge, but we’re three years in, and we’re really figuring out where we can push and pull those levers.
I have an anecdote that helps explain this. We always have a post-storm debrief with our field crews, and during one recent storm, one of our meteorologists was working for Fox Weather and Fox News on location. It was just him and his photographer, the two of them, together, for a whole week. Not too far away from where they were was another network, an entire crew of around 20 people, with a grip truck, a lighting rig, the whole setup. The crew and much of their setup are taking cover in a garage, and at some point, they toss to their reporter, who is standing two parking spots away from us. I’m not trying to take shots at this other network, it’s just illustrative of what we do, how we’re able to stay lean and be nimble and still have impactful reporting, even with a two-man crew.
We also have this tremendous ecosystem, some of which we discuss already — Fox News, Fox Business Network, the Fox-owned stations, the Fox affiliates, Fox News Radio. That ecosystem is hard to match. It allows us to be everywhere, to develop meaningful programming for our audience. I have to say, it’s an immense source of pride that the Fox News Channel trusted us to simulcast our programming during Hurricanes Helene and Milton. They saw us as a valuable partner, and they trusted our brand and our reporting with their audience.
Related Stories:
