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“Television Is What Gets Senators Elected”: Private-Equity Mogul Leon Black Is Building a Local TV…

Speaking of acquisitions: Apollo Global Management has started buying up local TV stations ahead of the 2020 presidential election.

7th largest station group: Apollo Global Management owns stations in 29 markets reaching 11% of the U.S. population.

Why this is happening: The political ad market is growing at 2.5X the rate of advertising overall and local TV stations still hold the lions share.

Political ad spend by year according to Kantar CMAG:
1) 2014 — $3.0B
2) 2016 — $4.4B
3) 2018 — $5.3B

The compound annual growth rate between 2014–18:
1) Political advertising — 15.50%
2) All advertising — 6.25%

YoY stock growth for local station groups according to TVNewsCheck:
1) Scripps — ↑ 75%
2) Gray — ↑ 68%
3) Nexstar — ↑ 63%
4) Tegna — ↑ 24%
5) Sinclair — ↑ 23%
6) Tribune — ↑ 14%

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