--- description: Donald Trump preferred to get free publicity by doing TV interviews, but he did come around to airing traditional campaign ads in the end. title: Watch a Brief History of Trump's Campaign Ads image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf04161d0c320b291/6988ad3a2dce01aa1d9eb50e/chris-morris-donald-trump-election-2016-20.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Politics](/section/politics/) ## Politics Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Donald Trump](/tag/donald-trump/) ## Donald Trump Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Watch a Brief History of Donald Trump's Campaign Ads by [Ryan Teague Beckwith](/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/) ## Ryan Teague Beckwith Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Nov 7, 2016 3:38 PM CUT by [Ryan Teague Beckwith](/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/) ## Ryan Teague Beckwith Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Nov 7, 2016 3:38 PM CUT Donald Trump did not follow typical campaign advertising rules. The Republican presidential nominee preferred to get so-called “earned media”—free publicity by appearing on cable news shows and other interviews. He did so well that one estimate was that he [had nearly $2 billion in earned media](https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=newssearch&cd=9&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjJuLHt-5bQAhVH5GMKHflFDaMQqQIINigAMAg&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2016%2F03%2F16%2Fupshot%2Fmeasuring-donald-trumps-mammoth-advantage-in-free-media.html&usg=AFQjCNFnIYUJ9XPW4I03KTjDG-6eDza3aA&sig2=Obp1YCgpLMvzlnes0pcyVA&bvm=bv.137904068,d.cGc "undefined") in the Republican primary alone. Still, Trump eventually came around to airing ads, though they were much darker and more negative than a typical campaign. Here’s a brief look at his campaign ads this year. **Read More:** [_Watch the 10 Most Notable Campaign Ads of 2016_](http://time.com/4556441/campaign-ads-2016-notable-video/ "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4560765/donald-trump-campaign-ads-video/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4560765/donald-trump-campaign-ads-video/"},"headline":"Watch a Brief History of Donald Trump's Campaign Ads","datePublished":"2016-11-07T15:38:37.000Z","dateModified":"2026-06-24T06:57:00.977Z","description":"Donald Trump preferred to get free publicity by doing TV interviews, but he did come around to airing traditional campaign ads in the end.","url":"https://time.com/4560765/donald-trump-campaign-ads-video/","keywords":["Donald Trump","2016 Election topic","campaign ads"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf04161d0c320b291/6988ad3a2dce01aa1d9eb50e/chris-morris-donald-trump-election-2016-20.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ryan Teague Beckwith","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf04161d0c320b291/6988ad3a2dce01aa1d9eb50e/chris-morris-donald-trump-election-2016-20.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"TIMEPOL Election","caption":"Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a rally at the Florida State Fair Grounds in Tampa, Fla. on Nov. 5, 2016.","creditText":"Christopher Morris—VII for TIME","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/donald-trump/","name":"Donald Trump"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4560765/donald-trump-campaign-ads-video/","name":"Watch a Brief History of Donald Trump's Campaign Ads"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"This Video Is No Longer Available","description":"Donald Trump preferred to get free publicity by doing TV interviews, but he did come around to airing traditional campaign ads in the end.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/fKodeUO6/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2026-06-23T15:00:44.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/fKodeUO6.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4560765/donald-trump-campaign-ads-video/","duration":"PT10S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4560765/donald-trump-campaign-ads-video/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```