GOP frontrunner Donald Trump has always said that he was a great negotiator, but he might not be able to win this battle: in the state of Ohio, media outlets are charging him more for airtime than the other presidential candidates.
Sometimes, when I look at the state of the presidential race, it just seems unfair as to the things Trump has to go through with the GOP establishment.
I caught wind of this story earlier today, and I wanted to bring it to you to see what you thought about it.
From BuzzFeed:
To be fair, media buying is a specialized craft — rates fluctuate based on demand and on privately negotiated terms. The market has, says Kantar Media/CMAG’s Elizabeth Wilner, “a wild, wild west component to it.”
But Trump, like other campaigns, is working through a middleman, in his case a Republican firm called Strategic Media Services, which declined to comment for this story.
On that same Cleveland station, in the 6 p.m. news slot and World News, the Trump campaign is paying double the rate of John Kasich’s super PAC, even though by law federal candidates have access to the lowest unit rate available, giving them an upper hand in negotiations over so-called issue advertisers.
On the CBS-affiliate, also in Cleveland, Trump is paying hundreds more for ads than both Sanders and Clinton in three time slots. In Cincinnati, on the ABC station there, Trump is paying a significantly higher rate for ads in the 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. news slots than Clinton and Sanders.
Check out this breakdown of what Trump will pay and the other candidates are paying:
Trump is paying $705 for 5 p.m. and $930 for 6 p.m. Sanders and Clinton are paying $440 and $580 for those same time slots.
The rate discrepancy is not isolated to broadcast. In one local cable buy on CNN in Cleveland, Trump paid hundreds more for ads throughout daytime and primetime than a similar buy from the Sanders campaign.
This is nothing more than a racket, or as my parents used to say, highway robbery. They are doing this because they think they can get over on the GOP frontrunner, but hopefully he exposes them during the debates – which he is known for doing.
H/T: BuzzFeed
Despite all the dirty tricks against Trump, he’s still winning big:
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