CNN is reportedly seeking $300,000 for an ad package during next week’s Democratic presidential debate, according to Variety.
The two-night debate is scheduled to take place next Tuesday and Wednesday with 10 candidates sharing the stage each night. The debates will be moderated by Dana Bash, Jake Tapper, and Don Lemon.
CNN’s price tag for an ad is a dramatic increase from what it has cost in recent months. Recently, a 30-second ad during CNN’s prime-time lineup, which features shows hosted by Anderson Cooper, Chris Cuomo, and Lemon, cost between $7,000 and $12,000, according to SQAD MediaCosts.
“There is significant demand around our debates,” Katrina Cukaj, an executive vice president of ad sales at WarnerMedia, the AT&T unit that houses CNN, told Variety. “There are some really intense storylines that came out of that [previous] debate. I think the curiosity around those storylines is at a peak.”
The uptick in price for the airtime during the debate corresponds to the larger audience the debate will bring in. The first two-night presidential debate, which was broadcast on MSNBC, NBC, and Telemundo last month, had 15.3 million and 18.1 million viewers, respectively.
