# I donated $25 to a U.S. Presidential candidate. How many viewers does that reach? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 3, 2015, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-donated-25-to-a-u-s-presidential-candidate-how-many-viewers-does-that-reach/733387 "2015-10-03T18:07:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Blalron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/35a633/32.png) [@Blalron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blalron)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2015, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-donated-25-to-a-u-s-presidential-candidate-how-many-viewers-does-that-reach/733387/1 "2015-10-03T18:07:06Z")
Assuming that my $25 goes into television advertisement for the campaign, how many viewers will that reach on average? ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2015, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-donated-25-to-a-u-s-presidential-candidate-how-many-viewers-does-that-reach/733387/2 "2015-10-03T19:34:06Z")
According to [this page](http://adage.com/article/news/costs-ad-prices-tv-mobile-billboards/297928/), $24.76 is the average cost for 1000 impressions of a 30-second commercial in prime time. Obviously that cost would vary depending on time of day, target demographic, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Blalron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/35a633/32.png) [@Blalron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blalron)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2015, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-donated-25-to-a-u-s-presidential-candidate-how-many-viewers-does-that-reach/733387/3 "2015-10-03T19:40:31Z")
Thank you. ---
**Author:** ![NeonMadman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/58f4c7/32.png) [@NeonMadman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NeonMadman)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2015, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-donated-25-to-a-u-s-presidential-candidate-how-many-viewers-does-that-reach/733387/4 "2015-10-04T00:23:07Z")
In my experience, they will now spend WAY more than that in mailings over the next few years trying to get you to donate more. ---
**Author:** ![Robert163](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/4af34b/32.png) [@Robert163](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robert163)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2015, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-donated-25-to-a-u-s-presidential-candidate-how-many-viewers-does-that-reach/733387/5 "2015-10-04T00:39:00Z")
> [@Dr.Strangelove](#): > > According to [this page](http://adage.com/article/news/costs-ad-prices-tv-mobile-billboards/297928/), $24.76 is the average cost for 1000 impressions of a 30-second commercial in prime time. Obviously that cost would vary depending on time of day, target demographic, etc. what is an impression? I looked it up and it was an online ad term. How does that realte to a TV Ad? (primetime) ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2015, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-donated-25-to-a-u-s-presidential-candidate-how-many-viewers-does-that-reach/733387/6 "2015-10-04T01:07:58Z")
> [@Robert163](#): > > what is an impression? I looked it up and it was an online ad term. How does that realte to a TV Ad? (primetime) I’m pretty sure it’s just one showing for that estimated number of viewers. The page I linked to mentions $400k for a spot during _The Walking Dead_, which gets ~16M viewers. That works out to the same $25 / 1000 impressions figure. ---
**Author:** ![Robert163](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/4af34b/32.png) [@Robert163](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robert163)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2015, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-donated-25-to-a-u-s-presidential-candidate-how-many-viewers-does-that-reach/733387/7 "2015-10-04T01:18:42Z")
> [@Dr.Strangelove](#): > > I’m pretty sure it’s just one showing for that estimated number of viewers. The page I linked to mentions $400k for a spot during _The Walking Dead_, which gets ~16M viewers. That works out to the same $25 / 1000 impressions figure. But we are talking about TV, not some online video? But regular TV: According to this page, $24.76 is the average cost for 1000 impressions of a 30-second commercial in prime time. So like a Cable show like a rerun of Castle or LAW & order or something? They are going to charge for 30 seconds, $24.76 per 1000 viewers? ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2015, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-donated-25-to-a-u-s-presidential-candidate-how-many-viewers-does-that-reach/733387/8 "2015-10-04T01:36:37Z")
> [@Robert163](#): > > But we are talking about TV, not some online video? But regular TV: Yes, TV. Clearly, though, TV can’t measure the number of viewers as accurately as online. Online ads can compute the number of viewings exactly and charge based on that. TV has to estimate based on Neilsen ratings or even just some function of market size. They probably just use a flat rate in many cases. The article also mentions that ads during the NCAA championships cost $1.55M for 21.2M viewers, which comes to $66 / 1k views. For whatever reason, those views are valued more highly than normal primetime shows. I’d guess that reruns of _Castle_ or whatever would be on the lower side of the average. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2015, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-donated-25-to-a-u-s-presidential-candidate-how-many-viewers-does-that-reach/733387/9 "2015-10-04T02:19:57Z")
> [@Robert163](#): > > But we are talking about TV, not some online video? But regular TV: > > According to this page, $24.76 is the average cost for 1000 impressions of a 30-second commercial in prime time. > > So like a Cable show like a rerun of Castle or LAW & order or something? They are going to charge for 30 seconds, $24.76 per 1000 viewers? Well, average is just. . . average. Advertisers will pay more to reach some viewers (18-34 year olds, particularly men) than they will for others (pretty much anyone over 50.) Plus, of course, what a particular advertiser will pay for a particular commercial at a particular time is subject to a lot of factors. So Law & Order reruns, which tend to attract older viewers, may not be able to attract advertisers for $24.76. They may only be able to charge $12.38. Meanwhile, a show like Big Bang Theory, [which does well with key demographics, even in reruns,](http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/05/arts/television/05bang.html?_r=0) can command a higher price. BTW, an “impression” is simply one message reaching one viewer one time, whether it’s in a newspaper, TV, radio, online or whatever. ---
**Author:** ![Robert163](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/4af34b/32.png) [@Robert163](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robert163)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2015, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-donated-25-to-a-u-s-presidential-candidate-how-many-viewers-does-that-reach/733387/10 "2015-10-04T02:23:04Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > Well, average is just. . . average. Advertisers will pay more to reach some viewers (18-34 year olds, particularly men) than they will for others (pretty much anyone over 50.) Plus, of course, what a particular advertiser will pay for a particular commercial at a particular time is subject to a lot of factors. So Law & Order reruns, which tend to attract older viewers, may not be able to attract advertisers for $24.76. They may only be able to charge $12.38. > > Meanwhile, a show like Big Bang Theory, [which does well with key demographics, even in reruns,](http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/05/arts/television/05bang.html?_r=0) can command a higher price. > > BTW, an “impression” is simply one message reaching one viewer one time, whether it’s in a newspaper, TV, radio, online or whatever. oh, thanks, very good answer, thank you