Donald Trump has earned nearly $2 billion worth of free media attention

Donald Trump does not need a high budget for publicity.

(Image credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

published 15 March 2016

Donald Trump's name may be everywhere in the media these days, but that isn't because he's devoting a lot of his campaign funds to publicity. Actually, The New York Times reports, Trump has spent less on television advertising than any other major candidate this election. That's because Trump has so heavily dominated earned media — "news and commentary" on TV, in print, and on social media — that he doesn't really need to bother:

Mr. Trump earned $400 million worth of free media last month, about what John McCain spent on his entire 2008 presidential campaign. Paul Senatori, mediaQuant's chief analytics officer, says that Mr. Trump "has no weakness in any of the media segments" — in other words, he is strong in every type of earned media, from television to Twitter.Over the course of the campaign, he has earned close to $2 billion worth of media attention, about twice the all-in price of the most expensive presidential campaigns in history. It is also twice the estimated $746 million that Hillary Clinton, the next best at earning media, took in. Senator Bernie Sanders has earned more media than any of the Republicans except Mr. Trump. [The New York Times]