He estimated that Georgians make up about 10 p.c of his viewers. His station has seen tens of millions of {dollars} in political spending anyway.
“In a 12 months the place we had a pandemic, it’s actually surprising and welcomed,” Mr. Ellis mentioned.
Stations take advantage of cash off tremendous PACs. Whereas candidates are shielded from price-gouging below federal regulation, the skin teams aren’t — and a few are paying quadruple the value for a similar airtime. In Atlanta, as an example, candidates are paying $6,000 for a 30-second advert throughout “Jeopardy!” and $5,000 for a spot on “Wheel of Fortune”; tremendous PACs are being charged $25,000 and $20,000 for a similar slots.
“It’s good cash,” mentioned Mr. Acuff on the Chattanooga station.
Among the many out-of-state media markets, probably the most environment friendly for Georgia campaigns is the Tallahassee, Fla., market, the place about 35 p.c of viewers stay in Georgia.
On the opposite finish of the dimensions is the Dothan, Ala., market, the place solely 5 p.c of viewers are in Georgia.
Tv stations in Dothan may appear sufficiently small to be missed by even probably the most formidable Georgia politicians. The market reaches a single county in southwestern Georgia, Early, which doesn’t crack the highest 100 counties in Georgia by inhabitants.
Simply over 10,000 folks stay there, or about 0.1 p.c of the state inhabitants.
However the margins in Georgia have been so excruciatingly small in November — Mr. Biden, the primary Democrat to hold the state since 1992, received by fewer than 12,000 votes — that the campaigns are promoting in Dothan despite the fact that 95 p.c of the market lives outdoors Georgia.
“This election goes to be extraordinarily shut,” mentioned Miryam Lipper, a spokeswoman for Mr. Ossoff, who mentioned reaching all voters “is a high precedence for us.”
