Trump campaign focuses cable TV buys on Fox News, while Biden makes a wider play

It's like the Trump campaign is all about keeping Trump from getting mad, not about persuading anybody. (Fine with me!)

Since April 8 — the day Joe Biden became the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee — President Donald Trump's re-election campaign has spent 52 percent of its cable TV ad spending on ads airing on Fox News, according to data from Advertising Analytics.

That differs from the Biden campaign's cable TV buys, which have directed nearly 22 percent for ads airing on Fox News, 23 percent on CNN and 10 percent on MSNBC.

Trump has spent just 9 percent of his cable TV buys on CNN, and 6 percent on MSNBC.

And the two candidates are spending drastically different amounts on cable TV — Trump has spent about $15 million, while Biden has spent about $2.5 million.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/meet-the-press/blog/meet-press-blog-latest-news-analysis-data-driving-political-discussion-n988541/ncrd1234453#blogHeader

It's like when his campaign spent $400,000 on his ads in the DC market so he'd see them and not blow a gasket:

With Trump stuck in that milieu of anxiety, his re-election team is hoping that the ads may put him at ease that his formidable political machine is hard at work defending him and attacking his enemies. Trump is a voracious consumer of cable news, and—the thinking goes—is likely to see the spots pop up between segments of his favorite shows.

These sources also said the campaign is hoping to counter-program recent ads by critics that have driven the president to public outbursts. The ads in question were the work of the Lincoln Project, a super PAC run by a group of dissident conservatives, and elicited furious reactions from the president’s Twitter feed. The Lincoln Project aired a recent, hard-hitting ad called “Mourning in America” on Fox News in the D.C. media market with the explicit goal of getting the president’s attention.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-camp-runs-ads-on-dc-cable-to-ease-boss-anxieties-and-buck-up-congressional-republicans

Donations to the Trump campaign are being spent (on his hotels, etc, but also) to keep the candidate calm and placated, not to actually persuade anybody. That sounds super normal.