Commercials Had to Wait as Votes Were Counted

On election night the cable news networks reduced their commercial load in primetime as they covered the vote totals as they came in state by state, according to an analysis by iSpot.tv.

From 7 p.m. to 10 p.m CNN ran only six minutes of spots, compared to 42.5 minutes of advertising the night before. It had 10 brand advertisers and one non-profit sponsoring its telecast.

On MSNBC there were 19 minutes of advertising, down from 32.5 minutes Monday night. MSNBC had 32 brand sponsors.

Fox News aired 25 minutes of advertising, down from 38 minutes. Fox had 47 advertisers on its election coverage.

The top advertisers on cable new on election day were Apple, Facebook, PlayStation, Google and Latuda, according to iSpot.

Jon Lafayette

Jon has been business editor of Broadcasting+Cable since 2010. He focuses on revenue-generating activities, including advertising and distribution, as well as executive intrigue and merger and acquisition activity. Just about any story is fair game, if a dollar sign can make its way into the article. Before B+C, Jon covered the industry for TVWeek, Cable World, Electronic Media, Advertising Age and The New York Post. A native New Yorker, Jon is hiding in plain sight in the suburbs of Chicago.