The advertisers know their audiences and they'll act accordingly. No-one's trying to stifle free speech, it's a business decision 🤷♀️
Yes they do, and advertising is always targeted. But do you think companies like Vodaphone and IKEA and LV car and house insurance honestly give two hoots about how their customers vote and how woke they are? I doubt it. They are too big to care and their products are for everyone. Literally everyone of any age, colour, culture, education level and political persuasion.
When it comes to something like advertising for a charity for refugees for example, or payday loans or Foxy Bingo or Tenalady then of course advertising is going to be very carefully targeted towards a receptive market. That makes good business sense.
But not IKEA, mobile phones and car insurance - come on now! Those companies have just had a knee jerk reaction to being bombarded on Twitter and are frightened of being tarred and feathered for being seen to support something unpopular. I'm not sure they actually give a stuff about what specific form that 'unpopular' might take. Anything that risks losing them a good chunk of their market is to be avoided.
But this could well be an own goal for them. They are getting a very cool reception indeed from a huge number of otherwise quiet people who have raised an eyebrow at what they see as gratuitious toadying and virtue signalling and as a result, they risk alienating far more people by denouncing the apparently wrong 'values' of GBN than they would have by refusing to pander to a few shouty SJWs on Twitter.
And they've realised this - hence why they reversed the decision with some bumbling excuses and red faces all round. Incidentally, IKEA catalogues in Saudi have women airbrushed out of the photos. So that tells you all you need to know about whether IKEA cares more about its own ethics and values or more about pandering to whichever market means the biggest profit to them.
Why should they feel entitled to be funded if their content alienates their audiences?
They shouldn't. And I am sure no channel feels entitled to anything of the sort. They understand how advertising works. But who is to say what content is alienating who, when the channel has been up for less than a week and most left-wing Remainer types are saying they refuse to watch it anyway? You can't alienate an audience you already don't have, because they've already decided you are not a good fit for their views. But let's remember that right now in this country the Left Wing Remainer is in a minority. Rather a large minority as it happens.