WMUR, New Hampshire's largest TV station, reversed itself last week and decided to sell ads to Republican Sen. Marco Rubio’s presidential campaign.
Here are five things we can tell you about the Rubio ad buy, based on the orders uploaded to WMUR’s public FCC file.
1. The first ad will air during the noon hour on December 1, during a broadcast of “Who Wants to be a Millionaire,” and the last during the noon hour on Primary Day, presumably February 9, 2016 - during a broadcast of “Who Wants to be a Millionaire.”
2. All told, the campaign has ordered 1,102 ads. More than 20 percent – 238 ads – are scheduled to run the final week of the election, between February 3 and Primary Day.
3. The 228 one-minute spots and 874 30-second spots ad up to a total of 11 hours and five minutes of Marco Rubio.
4. Almost half the ads - 534 - will pop up during news programming, including more than 200 in the morning, starting with WMUR's Newsbreak at 5 a.m., and running through Good Morning America, the top rated morning show.
5. The total cost: an estimated $1,174,410
What we don’t know about Rubio’s New Hampshire ad buy? The content of the ads.
Rubio also has three Super PACs and a 501(c)(4) nonprofit “social welfare” group backing him. One or all of them could be expected to bankroll ads, although federal rules prohibit them from coordinating their message with his campaign.
