UPDATE March 8, 2012: I ran the numbers a day after this post was written, and today 90% of the ads were free public service announcements.
________
I decided to run some numbers on Rush Limbaugh's advertising, and it's quite interesting. At least judging by the difference between yesterday's ads and the day before's, Limbaugh is hurting. Basic take-away: 56% of Limbaugh's ads yesterday were unpaid public service announcements (PSAs). Zero percent of his ads the day before were PSAs.
Limbaugh's ads for March 7 on WABC:
69 ads aired on the Rush Limbaugh radio show on WABC (per Media Matters).
- 10 ads (14%) were from paying advertisers who have not asked that their ads be pulled.
- 20 ads (29%) were from advertisers who have already asked that their ads be pulled (it can take a few days to pull them).
- 39 ads (56%) were unpaid PSAs donated to the Ad Council - so only 44% of the day's ads were paid for. The day before (see below), 100% of the ads were paid for.
His ads for March 6 on WABC:
57 ads aired on the show on WABC.
- 33 ads (58%) were from paying advertisers who have not asked that their ads be pulled.
- 24 ads (42%) were from advertisers who have already asked that their ads be pulled.
- None of the ads were unpaid PSAs, so 100% of the day's ads were paid for, versus only 44% of the ads being paid for the following day.
Here's the breakdown I just calculated for the ads that ran on Limbaugh's show the past two days (note that some ads ran multiple times):
69 Ads Total on WABC 3/7/12
39 ad council PSAs that run for free - that's 56% of the ads that ran
8 ads from companies that have already dropped Limbaugh, but it's taking a few days for the ads to be pulled from their rotation.
8 "real" ads, meaning companies that haven't yet dropped him - the big household names are gone:
Cintas
The Small Business Authority in Assoc with the Corp Tax Network
RightSize Smoothies
Peerless Boilers
Eos Sleep
New York Mint
Medipattern Corp.
Raw-Nation (Hot Rawks)
57 Ads Total on WABC 3/6/12
PSAs
0
14 Companies that have already dropped
18 Real advertisers
Rightsize Smoothies
NY Lottery
NY Mint
Winning our Future
Peerless Boilers
NJ Lottery
Heritage for the Blind
ITT
InventHelp
Merit Financial
Freedom Debt Relief
Small Business Authority
O'Reilly Auto Parts
Akin Mears
A Place for Mom
Wave Home
MediPattern
American Credit Card Solutions
