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Time, Variety, engadget

Tonight’s Debate Is Expected to Be the Most-Watched Political Event in U.S. History

Sep 26, 2016  •  Post A Comment

Tonight’s presidential debate, the first of three scheduled debates between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, is expected to be the most-watched political event in U.S. History, Time reports, with as many as 100 million viewers expected to tune in.

“While the 90-minute debate itself will be have no ads, networks are aggressively selling pre-show and post-debate analysis show ads,” the report notes.

Variety reports that CBS is asking $200,000 to $225,000 for a 30-second spot in its post-debate coverage, along the lines of a typical prime-time program.

Some networks are reporting they’re sold out or almost sold out of ad spots for all three debates.

Time adds: “But with Facebook, Twitter, and other digital outlets reaching as many, if not more, people than traditional TV, ad buyers are looking to non-traditional ways to get their election season messages across — including the candidates themselves. Trump launched two Snapchat filters for the debate, one with a banner reading ‘Donald J. Trump vs Crooked Hillary.’ Clinton’s campaign announced it has at least $30 million earmarked for digital ads.”

While the debate will be carried across multiple broadcast outlets, engadget notes that digital platforms such as Twitter, YouTube and Facebook will also be involved.

“This is the first American presidential debate where Facebook Live will play a part, and you’ll have no shortage of choices for streaming the event on the world’s largest social network,” engadget reports. “ABC News has a deal with Facebook to livestream the debate ad-free, complete with commentary before and after (including responses to viewer questions) as well as extra details on its Facebook page. You can also expect BuzzFeed, CNBC, C-SPAN, Fox News, the New York Times, PBS, Telemundo and Univision to stream on Facebook as well, although you won’t necessarily get a TV-like broadcast.”

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