Coverage of the South Carolina Democratic primary was pretty much wrapped up at 7 p.m. ET as all the networks called the race for Hillary Clinton. Lester Holt on NBC, George Stephanopoulos on ABC and Jim Axelrod on CBS had special reports at 7 p.m. ET with the call. CNN, FNC, MSNBC, C-SPAN and FBN all called it at 7 p.m. The cable news networks will fill out the evening with exit poll data, speeches from Clinton and Bernie Sanders, and look ahead to Super Tuesday.
One thing we haven’t mentioned, but noticed again tonight, CNN has sponsored its Key Race Alerts. Since the Iowa Caucus, Audi has gotten a lower third graphic that remains on screen for about :10 seconds. With the massive viewership the 2016 primary nights and debates and have delivered, CNN is finding another source of revenue, with willing brands.
For Audi, participating in political coverage is nothing new. The German carmaker was a major network sponsor during Barack Obama‘s first inauguration.