Commercial breaks during NFL playoff games are swamped with ads for Michael Bloomberg’s presidential campaign, drawing complaints from some viewers.
But the ads show the political potency of his deep pockets. Bloomberg’s ad spending for just one playoff game rivals the total television spending so far by top-tier competitors.
The mega-billionaire, financial services company founder, and former New York City mayor purchased national time on Fox during Sunday’s Green Bay vs. Seattle NFC divisional game for $1.1 million, according to ad-tracking firm Advertising Analytics. The national spot ran in all 210 television markets.
That one-program ad spend is massive compared with what other top-tier competitors have spent on television ads so far in the Democratic presidential race, which generally only run in early nominating contest states such as Iowa rather than nationwide.
According to FiveThirtyEight’s ad tracker, Bloomberg’s $1.1 million spend amounts to about a fifth of the $5.1 million former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg has spent so far, more than 60% of the $1.8 million in ad buys from Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s campaign, more than half of former Vice President Joe Biden’s $2 million spend, and about a sixth of the $6.9 million Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders has spent.
The Bloomberg campaign will run a 60-second ad during the Super Bowl for $11 million, according to Advertising Analytics. President Trump’s campaign will also run a $11 million ad during the game.
Bloomberg, 77, is self-funding his presidential campaign and has already spent more than $200 million on advertisements alone since his late November campaign launch, and that does not include the cost of his high-paid campaign staff of more than 1,000 people. His massive spending is a target for primary rivals who accuse him of trying to buy the Democratic presidential nomination.
The crowded field of candidates makes it hard for late-entry Bloomberg to break through in early states, so he is skipping competing in the first four nominating contests in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, and South Carolina, instead hoping to win delegates in March 3 Super Tuesday states and beyond, explaining his focus on national ads.
It is unclear whether Bloomberg’s heavy spending will spell success for him in the Democratic primaries. Candidates must meet 15% support in districts or statewide to earn nominating delegates to the Democratic National Convention, and Bloomberg sits at 6.6% support in the RealClearPolitics average of national primary polls.
Bloomberg’s self-financing presents another challenge. Because he is not accepting campaign donations, he can not qualify for Democratic presidential debates, which require candidates to meet an individual donor threshold and polling threshold to qualify. To make up for Bloomberg’s absence on Tuesday’s debate stage and lost media attention, his campaign staged a series of eccentric jokes on Twitter that included photo editing his face onto a meatball.
