donald trump and hillary clinton are spending millions to flood swing-state airwaves with campaign ads in the final weeks of the presidential election. but because mrs. clinton<u+2019>s team typically books hers much earlier, her dollars<u+2014>at least at first<u+2014>can go further. mrs. clinton paid $770 to air a 30-second spot monday during the drama <u+201c>timeless<u+201d><u+00a0>on fort myers, fla.<u+2019>s wbbh, according to federal communications commission filings that were confirmed by the tv station. mr. trump paid about $300 more for his ad on the same show. during an episode last week of nbc<u+2019>s <u+201c>blindspot,<u+201d> mrs. clinton paid wbbh $770 for an ad; mr. trump $1,080. another 30-second spot, aired last week during the nbc series <u+201c>chicago p.d.<u+201d> on the same station, cost mrs. clinton $550. mr. trump<u+2019>s fee: $770. the station elected to rebate the price differential after it was contacted thursday by a representative of the trump campaign, according to bob beville, the station<u+2019>s vice president of sales. candidates are entitled to pay stations the lowest unit rate in the lead-up to an election. mr. beville said the initial pricing was due in part to the clinton campaign<u+2019>s decision to book ad time on aug. 26<u+2014>a month before the trump campaign. the democratic nominee paid a net $27,000 for 96 spots in a one-week period, while her republican rival was charged the same amount for 83 spots. yet a review of dozens of fcc filings revealed a pattern of the trump campaign paying initially higher rates in battleground states than the clinton campaign because of its tendency to book closer to air dates. the different strategies mean mr. trump is initially paying out more money, which comes as his fundraising and tv ads have lagged far behind that of mrs. clinton. mr. trump has also cycled through several ad buying agencies, hiring his most recent buyer in mid-september. mrs. clinton, meanwhile, has been able to stay on the air while conserving cash for the final sprint to election day. <u+201c>it<u+2019>s their strategy,<u+201d> mr. beville said of the trump campaign. <u+201c>i don<u+2019>t second-guess them.<u+201d> given the fluidity of tv ad pricing, the trump campaign sometimes will receive rebates from the stations. other times, the clinton campaign, which reserved<u+00a0>$80 million<u+00a0>in fall airtime<u+00a0>in mid-august, will choose to pay more later to ensure their ads air in competitive markets. larger stations tend to send rebates before the ads air, but smaller stations<u+2014>such as wbbh<u+2014>often settle their books after the fact, sometimes as late as after election day. the trump campaign has chosen to pay rates at which ads are most likely to air<u+2014>provided by the tv stations at the time ads are booked<u+2014>to save its ad buyers time, rather than having to go back later and adjust its buys, according to a person familiar with the strategy. the clinton campaign in recent weeks has agreed to pay several thousand dollars in certain markets to ensure her ads air. the stakes are particularly high now, when mrs. clinton and her affiliated super pac have dramatically outpaced mr. trump on the airwaves and as the republican trails his rival by 9 percentage points, according to a recent wall street journal/nbc news poll . after staying off the air for much of the summer, mr. trump<u+2019>s first general-election tv ads ran in mid-august. mrs. clinton began airing ads in battleground states two months earlier. the trump campaign said late last month it planned to spend $100 million on tv ads in the final weeks of the election. but it so far has booked about half that, with less than four weeks until election day. media buyers say more spots aren<u+2019>t always better, because some costlier ads<u+2014>such as during<u+00a0>nbc<u+2019>s <u+201c>sunday<u+00a0>night football<u+201d><u+2014>deliver a greater number of viewers and therefore more bang for the buck. also bolstering mrs. clinton<u+2019>s campaign on air is her super pac, which has close to $40 million in airtime booked in the final weeks before the election. mr. trump<u+2019>s super pacs have booked a fraction of that. since mr. trump<u+2019>s tv ads have lagged so far behind mrs. clinton<u+2019>s, some booking experts said, she has greater flexibility in choosing which ads she wants to pay a higher rate to have clear, and which she can allow to be bumped to less desirable times. mr. trump and his allied super pacs spent $78 million on tv ads through september, according to data from the ad tracking firm kantar media/cmag. mrs. clinton and her allied groups spent $325 million. at a station in reno, nev., mrs. clinton booked 51 spots on<u+00a0>aug. 30<u+00a0>for a three-week period beginning oct. 11 for about $10,000. mr. trump booked 49 spots one day before they were set to start airing, and he paid $18,600. for a 30-second spot to air during cbs<u+2019>s <u+201c>this morning<u+201d> on oct. 17, for instance, the clinton campaign paid the reno station $450 to air its ad three times. mr. trump paid the same amount to air his ad twice in that time slot. mrs. clinton could pay more later to ensure her ads aren<u+2019>t pre-empted. the trump campaign said the station is in the process of adjusting its rates. write to rebecca ballhaus at rebecca.ballhaus@wsj.com
donald trump, buying late, initially pays more for tv ads - wsj
rebecca ballhaus