[rchaud]

> 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.

[netsharc]

What, and the news doesn't report poll numbers of "likely voters" before the election? Who'd be frontrunner, who's surging, etc, etc?

[rchaud]

Why would that affect the candidate's spend? Is there any evidence of that happening?