POLITIBYTES

TV was once a powerful commercial medium that had cornered the competitive marketplace for valuable advertising dollars. Recently, those revenues provided incentives to drive a market towards web videos, as creators and distributors of web programming continue to expand and multiply.

Today, television appears to have made a comeback, with the help of 2016 political campaign and personalities like real estate mogul Donald Trump, who went on to become a celebrity, and is currently one of the top presidential candidates. His ratings are high, but according to FEC records there are hundreds of others who've filed paperwork to be certified a U.S. presidential candidates, even if so far many amount to little more than gadflies, eccentrics and unknowns.

But, whatever your opinion of Trump is, there's one sure fact: The recent remarks from Hillary and The Don makes for good TV. The Donald's not necessarily politically correct comments, those polarizing points of view, along with blunt assessments on USA's state confusion, and crass comments regarding women, illegal immigrants, captured soldiers... etc.

TV networks and advertisers are probably praying to the patron saint of media, the internet and TV for Trump to stay in the race for as long as he wants to. If Fox, NBC and the others, which have enjoyed massive ratings from his antics are the litmus test, The Don has done what fanatics failed to accomplish. He has revitalized Boob Tube, commercial TV, political ads and coverage.

The opiate of too many people. The video screen, with speakers has been overly watched by cretins who are too lazy to get a life. As a result they suffer from half-closed eyes and half-open mouths, or is it the other way around? And it's not just cable news podcasts, newscasts and online websites like DON that are poised to benefit; The Donald is a perfect topic for the comedy circuit and the butt of jokes on various comedy shows.

Trump is no stranger to portraying the quintessential reality TV villain; it's a role he played for 14 seasons on NBC Apprentice and Celebrity Apprentice. You're Fired! 'The real estate mogul is bringing this same bombastic personality to the election, creating the perfect ammunition for late-night hosts. Comedian Stephen Colbert claims to have plenty of campaign jokes prepared for CBS's "The Late Show."

And the 2016 campaign could buoy "Saturday Night Live" beyond the massive ratings it saw during the 2008 election, when its skits were Sarah Palin spoofs. https://youtu.be/CaOZS60-Imw

Tina Fey's impersonations of the Republican vice presidential hopeful boosted ratings and became viral video gold. And Ms. Palin's appearance on the sketch comedy show in October 2008 was watched by nearly 15 million people and garnered a 5.5 rating among the 18-to-49 demo, making it the highest rated episode in 14 years.

It couldn't have come at a better time for "SNL" following a lackluster 2007-2008 season where ratings declined and the show was teetering on becoming stale. Ultimately, Ms. Palin and all the political satire she brought to the presidential cycle propelled "SNL" ratings 30% for the season vs. the previous year.
Fox News set a record earlier in the month, with 24 million people tuning in to the first Republican primary debate of the 2016 election cycle, making it the most-watched cable telecast of all-time excluding sports programming. And perhaps even more impressive, the debate drew 6.7 million viewers in the all-important 18-to-49 demographic. This is more than double the 3.2 million people in total that watched the first GOP debate of the 2012 campaign.

And less than a week after the debate, an exclusive interview with Mr. Trump propelled Fox program"Hannity" Fox News https://youtu.be/qzB_GWWJBAE

CNN will air the next Republican debate on Sept. 16 and demand for commercial time in the prime-time brawl has been escalating and the sheer number of Republican candidates as another enticing element to the primary. http://cnn.it/1NlFKmy

While such polarizing, controversial personalities can often be frightening for advertisers, media buyers aren't shying away because big ratings are difficult to come by these days, and unless Hillary, or The Don go off the deep end and do something worse, the majority of advertisers won't have an issue being in the upcoming debates.

People are watching the debates because no one knows what is going to happen next, and that makes for great political theater as well as great social conversation. If there is a debate between Donald Trump and Democrat front runner Clinton and Republican Trump the ratings will certainly be enormous: MUST SEE TV.

America has had political spoilers and jokers in the past.
Ross Perot, John Edward, Ralph Nader and others have made tracks and driven their campaign buses off the road. We will also discuss opportunists, as well as those who lived and were way ahead of their time. One of three debates in 1992: https://youtu.be/Jg9qB_BIjWY

"Most people are alive in an earlier time, but you must be alive in our own time." Marshall McLuhan: "the media is the massage" It still resonates two decades after his death.
https://youtu.be/ImaH51F4HBw

Federal Election Campaign Act: http://www.fec.gov/press/resources/2016presidential_form2nm.shtml

Hillary Clinton's private emails violated policy http://www.politico.com/story/2015/08/judge-says-hillary-clintons-priva…

The Donald
http://time.com/trump/?xid=tcoshare