Why Trump's New Television Ad Buy Could Be Too Little, Too Late

Hillary Clinton and her allies have outspent Donald Trump and his team on the airwaves by almost a five-to-one margin this election despite the Republican nominee’s recent dabbling into TV over the past few weeks.

When excluding outside groups, the Clinton campaign outspends Trump’s campaign by more than a nine-to-one margin, according to a new ABC News analysis of television advertising data from CMAG/Kantar Media.

Trump announced a $10 million ad buy earlier this week, which is his largest yet of this election cycle. But as of mid-day Friday, just half of those dollars had been reserved on the airwaves, according to CMAG.

Meanwhile, Clinton's campaign and the behemoth Super PAC supporting her continue to dump big money into broadcast spending, taking full advantage of her three-month head start.

Indeed, the Clinton campaign and the super PAC are accountable for 79 cents of every dollar spent on political television ad spending so far. The Clinton campaign itself is accountable for more than half - 52 cents of every dollar - of all political television ad spending. Trump’s campaign? Only 6 cents of every dollar.

The Clinton campaign itself is responsible for almost two-thirds of pro-Clinton spending on the airwaves, while Trump’s campaign isn’t even responsible for one-third of pro-Trump television ad spending.

Clinton's campaign has spent $84.0 million on general election ads this cycle, compared to just $8.9 million to date for the Trump campaign. The main super PAC backing Clinton, Priorities USA Action, has spent $44.0 million so far, compared to only $12.8 million from the highest-spending super PAC supporting Trump, Rebuilding America PAC.

Each candidate has gotten a handful of other buys from minor supporting groups, including Emily's List ($1.3 million) and Vote Vets PAC ($3.4 million) for Clinton and the National Rifle Association ($4.9 million) and Great America PAC ($1.9 million) for Trump.

Clinton is also outspending Trump in every state by wide margins. She’s focusing on Florida and Ohio, both absolute must-win states for Trump if he is to win the White House. She’s also spending significant sums in North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Nevada.

You can find a full list of battleground states and spending below. These numbers do not include a recently announced buy from Clinton in Arizona, a state that has gone Democratic only once since 1952.

The Clinton campaign is no longer spending any money in Colorado or Virginia, but continues to ramp up spending in Florida, Ohio and North Carolina, especially. These are signs that Clinton is going on the offense – winding down spending in states she has in her grasp while dumping money into three states – any of which would likely block Trump’s path to the White House.

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