Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by netsharc 1990 days ago
It seems media companies have a different interest in political races: if they call it a tight race, the candidates will pay them to run ads. And indirectly, if they report that it's tight, people will keep tuning in, and they can sell these eyeballs for a better price to their advertisers.

For example the 2008 Dem primaries with Obama vs Hillary. Obama was sure to win it months before the Dem conference, but I can recall CNN still calling it a race...
1 comments
rchaud 1990 days ago
> if they call it a tight race, the candidates will pay them to run ads.

All the spending happens well before news channels start reporting ballot counts. Multi-million dollar political campaigns do not rely on the news media to tell them how they should spend their ad budget over a months-long election cycle.

By the time news orgs start reporting actual ballot counts, it's too late to spend any more money. A good chunk of votes have already been cast via mail. Poll stations have either closed or are at best a few hours away from closing.

link
netsharc 1990 days ago
What, and the news doesn't report poll numbers of "likely voters" before the election? Who'd be frontrunner, who's surging, etc, etc?
link
rchaud 1989 days ago
Why would that affect the candidate's spend? Is there any evidence of that happening?
link