--- title: Donald Trump Enjoys More than $23 Million in Free TV description: For his campaign, the constant exposure essentially translates to free money. canonical: https://time.com/4147550/donald-trump-free-media-television/ author: Tessa Berenson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-12-14T15:43:55.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-05T08:40:22.777Z article:section: Politics og:title: Here's How Much Free Publicity Donald Trump Gets og:description: "There’s really no precedent," an expert says og:url: https://time.com/4147550/donald-trump-free-media-television/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdb560e0293a3cb01/69887524cf40a87e8ac41107/trump5.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 8000 og:image:height: 4500 og:image:alt: GOP Candidate Donald Trump Campaigns In South Carolina og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Here's How Much Free Publicity Donald Trump Gets twitter:description: "There’s really no precedent," an expert says twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdb560e0293a3cb01/69887524cf40a87e8ac41107/trump5.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Here's How Much Free Publicity Donald Trump Gets > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=f5eed7ac-7b33-45e7-a338-ce1dd299c447&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Donald Trump: 'I Have to Win' [Watch (HLS stream): Donald Trump: 'I Have to Win'](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/RaDVQ2PJ.m3u8) (2:30)  _Published 2015-12-09. Watch Time magazine's interview with Donald Trump for Person of the Year_  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Dec 14, 2015 3:43 PM UTC Watch Time magazine's interview with Donald Trump for Person of the Year  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Dec 14, 2015 3:43 PM UTC First it was the summer of [Donald Trump](http://time.com/time-person-of-the-year-2015-runner-up-donald-trump/). Then it became fall, and now winter, and still Trump sits atop the Republican polls and dominates every news cycle. For his campaign, that constant exposure essentially translates to free money. That’s according to [a Bloomberg analysis](http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2015-12-14/how-trump-has-neutralized-super-pac-cash), which found Trump has enjoyed the equivalent of as much as $23.4 million in free media this year from ABC, NBC and CBS alone. Bloomberg arrived at this figure by looking at the total time Trump has spent on those networks and the average cost of a national ad. “There’s really no precedent for the amount of free media that Trump is able to get,” Richard Skinner, who studies money in politics for the Sunlight Foundation, told the website. “In part just because he’s a celebrity in a way we’ve really never seen before in a presidential candidate. His name ID is comparable to a sitting president. And this is his career. It’s what he’s been doing for the past several decades, which is generating lots and lots and lots of free media.” [Read more at Bloomberg](http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2015-12-14/how-trump-has-neutralized-super-pac-cash) **MORE** [Donald Trump, Person of the Year Runner-up](http://time.com/time-person-of-the-year-2015-runner-up-donald-trump/) ## Transcript [ MUSIC ] [ NOISE ] I see your face. [ MUSIC ] My crowds have gotten larger. They've gotten even more energized to a point where we go into a place, whether it's New Hampshire, whether it's Iowa, whether it's Columbus, Ohio. No matter where I go, we have many more people than we anticipated. And the other thing I see now that I didn't see as much, tremendous energy, tremendous spirit. They want to make America great again. It's very simple. They want to make America great again. [ CROSSTALK ] [ APPLAUSE ] United States, Donald Trump. I am less politically correct than you're supposed to be and I will tell you, I don't do it purposely. I could be so politically correct you would sit with me and people would say, wow, he is such a fine person, he is a, I just don't have time for it. Political correctness takes a lot of time, takes a tremendous amount of time. We are lead by very, very stupid people. Mexico sends it's people. Oh I don't know what I said. They're not sending their best. I don't remember. Bringing drugs. Out of hundreds of deals that I've done. They're bringing crime. I've taken advantage of the laws of this country. They're rapists. We don't win anymore. And some, I assume, are good people. I'm really rich. I'll show you that myself. I was called by a major, major A reporter, whose name I won't use. He said, " How does it feel ?" I said, " How does what feel ?" " What you've done has never been done in the history of United States politics. I say, " What do you mean by that ?" He said, " Nobody has ever done what you've done. The energy, the crowds, the whole concept of what you've done has never been done ." And I said, " Well, what have I done? I haven't won ." If I don't win it's just a waste of time as far as I'm concerned. I will consider it a giant waste of time. He said, no you're wrong, if you don't win you have still done something that's never been done before. I tend to disagree with him, I think I have to win. I'm about winning. 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