Trump Continues to Be Lucrative for Cable News Networks, and SNL

Ad revenue has surged in the past year

Regardless of what one thinks about Donald Trump’s presidency, it’s been an unqualified success in at least one area: the ad revenue surge it’s providing to the networks and shows that are covering it. Cable news networks and Saturday Night Live saw hefty year-over-year increases in January, according to new data from Standard Media Index.

According to SMI, which tracks 70 percent of national ad spending from global and independent agencies, ad unit costs for the two SNL episodes that aired in January—one hosted by Felicity Jones, the other by Aziz Ansari—jumped 86 percent from a year earlier, to $111,045 for the Jones episode and $119,442 for Ansari’s.

That’s

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