Hillary Clinton and her allies are poised for a TV ad blitz of nearly $100 million dollars, compared to less than $1 million currently reserved on the airwaves by backers of Donald Trump.
According to ad-tracking data provided to NBC News by SMG Delta, Clinton’s campaign and pro-Clinton group Priorities USA Action have reserved a combined $98 million through the fall so far, while pro-Trump PAC Rebuilding America Now has just about $817,000 set to air at this time.
Through last week, Team Clinton had aired a total of $68 million in ads, while Team Trump had spent roughly $6 million – mostly from Rebuilding America Now and the NRA Political Victory Fund.
Hillary Clinton’s campaign has ads booked to run through Monday, August 8, in Florida, Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia. And the campaign plans another $8 million buy targeting Olympics coverage for the two weeks comprising the Rio games.
But the lion’s share of Team Clinton's planned ad spending so far comes from Priorities USA Action, which makes up more than $80 million of the pro-Clinton forces' reserved airtime until the fall. While the Clinton campaign itself dropped its ad buy in Colorado last week, for example, Priorities is set to advertise there as well as in every major swing state.
That means, in total, Clinton’s campaign and Priorities USA Action are set to air a combined $22 million in ads from now through the end of the Olympics, with the latter group already aiming to spend about $77 million from the last week in August until Election Day.
Rebuilding America Now PAC, the pro-Trump group, has buys on national cable as well as in just three states: Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania.
