The summer's biggest TV hit is – the GOP presidential debate.
CNN, which is hosting the next face-off for candidates Sept. 16, is asking 40 times its normal rate for commercial time, anticipating ratings gold,
Ad Age reports.
The cable news network is charging as much as $200,000 for a 30-second spot in the prime-time debate, an unnamed media buyer tells Ad Age. Typically, an average prime-time spot on CNN costs about $5,000, Ad Age reports.
The inflated prices appear to follow the blockbuster Fox News had with its Aug. 6 debate featuring brash-talking Donald Trump front-and-center along with nine other top GOP candidates,
The Hill reports.
About 24 million people tuned in to watch the debate,
whose most memorable moments may have been Trump's complaints about the moderators, especially Megyn Kelly, afterward.
Based on the interest, however, Trump and rivals at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Library in Simi Valley is expected to be the most watched event ever on CNN, the
Los Angeles Times reports.
And the expected sky-high price for ad spots, one CNN executive told the newspaper, is "a lot more than we'd get if Trump weren't in it."
CNN has been hyping the debate with a particular focus on Trump, releasing a movie-style trailer touting the event as “round two.”
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