GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump received almost $2 billion in free media in 2016, beating out all other Republicans and Democrats,
The Huffington Post reports.
The figure comes from tracking firm mediaQuant.
Trump's $1.9 billion in free or "earned" media coverage compares to the mere $10 million he spent on paid advertisements. Much of the free coverage was the result of Trump's continued front-runner status as well as propensity to generate controversy.
Here's how the other Republicans and the two Democrats still in the race stacked up in free media coverage:
• Hillary Clinton: $746 million
• Bernie Sanders: $321 million
• Ted Cruz: $313 million
• Marco Rubio: $204 million
• John Kasich: $38 million
MediaQuant calculates earned media values based on how much time was devoted to a person (including people who are not political candidates), whether the coverage was positive, negative or neutral, and how much the outlet charges for advertising. More than 20,000 media outlets are included in the calculations.
Trump even outdid celebrities and athletes and world leaders:
• Taylor Swift: $497 million
• Kanye West: $250 million
• Vladimir Putin: $229 million
• Pope Francis: $128 million
• Peyton Manning: $29 million
• Stephen Curry: $15 million
MediaQuant rates with a score of zero to 100, based on the quantity and quality of exposure. Trump gets at 98, which bests President Barack Obama, but Obama still pulled in more free media in terms of dollars at $2.58 billion.
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