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Trump campaign launches massive digital ad buy for convention week

24 August 2020
 Dan Ackermann

The Trump campaign is going all in on digital advertising for the Republican National Convention, with plans to again take over the YouTube masthead and flood Facebook, Google and streaming services like Hulu with pro-Trump messaging.

The big picture: The massive digital ad buy — which is in the high seven figures, according to the campaign — will complement the Trumpian production planned for each night of the convention this week.

  • The goal is to inundate Americans on TV and online throughout the convention.

Details: Starting at 12:01 a.m. Monday, the campaign is running a series of ads on the YouTube masthead, prime online real estate, all four days of the convention — for a total of 96 hours.

  • One ad that will be featured prominently, titled "Fighting for the American Worker," makes Trump's case for his record on the economy and his efforts to bring back manufacturing jobs.
  • Trump campaign communications director Tim Murtaugh told Axios the campaign will also likely rotate in videos from the convention after they air.
  • The campaign has also purchased online ads in swing states for streaming services like Hulu. There will also be a big push on Facebook and Google.

The backstory: The campaign went big on digital ads last week for the Democratic National Convention, focusing on attacks on Joe Biden. This week's ads will be more geared to promoting Trump.

  • The campaign's digital buy last week exceeded $10 million, Murtaugh said, and it expects to spend a similar amount this week. Some of the ads are performance-based, so the final price may fluctuate.
  • The Trump campaign is also running TV ads in early-voting states on national cable as part of a separate ad buy, Murtaugh said.

Watch one of the ads.

Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times

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Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.

Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.

The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.

  • The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.

What the transcripts say:

  • Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
  • The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
  • Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."

Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.