Everybody has their own take but the clear winner beneficiary of the alternative programming last night was CNN.
“Donald Trump’s counter-programming stunt succeeded in stealing viewers from Fox News’ Republican presidential debate.”
http://money.cnn.com/2016/01/29/media/republican-debate-ratings-donald-trump/
“By comparison, two of the cable channels that showed parts of Trump’s fundraising event, CNN and MSNBC, had about 2.7 million viewers combined. A plethora of smaller outlets also televised and streamed Trump, but no further viewership data is available.
Practically speaking, there is no way Trump’s event could have out-rated the debate. But ratings experts said Trump did appear to take a chunk out of Fox’s audience.”
CNN and Fox News are on a relatively even playing field in terms of reach into cable homes. And Thursday’s debate didn’t come close to matching December’s totals.
Just a reminder of how the “give the money to the veterans” thing started. Trump knew that the media was raking in the money. He explained this over and over. The debates are a public service..
Billionaire Points to 4,000% Increase in Cost for Commercials
“Mr. Trump said CNN should view the debate “as a public service and not accept the massive profits that this airing will generate,” suggesting they instead go to various veterans’ groups.”
I don’t think he made an unreasonable request, no more than a football game gets a revenue share....
Of course, this is one reason why Trump is rich...he just thinks differently than other people...
Just to finish off...more on debate ad rates...
http://adage.com/article/media/trump-cnn-donate-ad-revenue-gop-debate/300281/
CNN is charging a steep $200,000 for 30 seconds of commercial time in the debate, some 40 times its usual price for prime time ads, as Ad Age reported first earlier this month. That price is so elevated that Donald Trump argued CNN should give away the “massive profits,” to veterans’ groups.
http://adage.com/article/media/cnn-republican-debate-draws-23-million-viewers/300424/
http://adage.com/article/media/rand-paul-ad-during-republican-debate-cnn/300388/