Exclusive: Iowa TVs already tuned to 2020 as early presidential ads sweep into the state

Source: Des Moines Register

High-profile presidential contenders may be playing coy with Iowans, but televisions in the first-in-the-nation caucus state are already tuned to 2020.

According to an exclusive Des Moines Register analysis of data from Kantar Media, more than 10,500 television ads related to the 2020 presidential elections have already aired on broadcast and cable channels across the United States this year. More than half of those ads have been on Iowa television channels.

Nearly all of the ads come from two Democrats: U.S. Rep. John Delaney of Maryland, who has announced a run in 2020, as well as California billionaire Tom Steyer, who says he's focused on 2018 but has directed 90 percent of his groups' television advertising toward Iowa and other early-voting states.

With or without Steyer's advertising, that's a dramatic shift from 2014. Like this one, that year was two years before the presidential election, but just two ads focused on the 2016 presidential election were broadcast a total of nine times in Iowa.

Read more: https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/politics/2018/09/18/iowa-tv-2020-presidential-political-ads-advertising-caucus-election-john-delaney-tom-steyer-democrat/1273124002/