• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, October 28, 2016

Who is advertising on "Trump Tower Live" these days?  Right now, one can’t see much. Maybe that’s the point.

Running on Facebook Live, the "Trump Tower Live" efforts appear to focus on all the Republican candidate's recent efforts. And why not. With two weeks ago before the election, it’s all about promoting your own brand.

Think about how Fox News Channel promotes “Hannity” and “The Kelly File.” CNN touts “The Situation Room” or MSNBC promotes  “The Rachel Maddow Show.”

So your nascent-looking "Trump Tower Live" is essentially a non-ad-supported “network” at the moment --  a mix of PBS, C-Span, one of those racy HBO channels -- and perhaps the Syfy network, according to some.

This means no pharmaceutical advertising -- for the older political voters; no video games for those younger male consumers; no mini-van auto advertising for hard working moms.

The most recent of three live “shows” was hosted by Trump surrogates Cliff Sims and Boris Epshteyn. Discussions with other Trump team members centered on Clinton Foundation issues, emails and of course, the distrust over the media.

Some eight minutes in -- and voila -- a commercial break! And the commercial --- and others to follow -- all promoted Trump. The most recent show ran a hour and 25 minutes -- which included about hour long Trump rally.

Another video had Epshteyn interviewing Trump, where he discussed repealing ObamaCare and replacing it with a much “cheaper” alternative. (I guess this would be where the pharmaceutical advertising come in).

The Donald Trump Facebook page also asked me to “Shop Now.” (I wonder if that will take me to those high-priced shops at Trump hotels/resort locations? Maybe there would be a GroupOn coupon involved.) Nope. That took me to a page where I could make a donation.

Should a real Trump TV effort get off the ground, it's a safe guess TV advertisers would be similar to those Fox News Channel pulls in.

From October 26, 2015 to October 26, 2016, Fox News Channel generated $978.3 million in national TV advertising, according to iSpot.tv. Major advertisers include: My Pillow, Nutrisystem, Liberty Mutual, Prevagen, Toujeo, Rosland Capital, Acura, Sirius/XM Satellite Radio, Allstate, Aleve.

For his part, Trump has said he doesn’t want to buy a TV network. But he might change his mind. Many believe the actual cost of buying a traditional TV news network -- a cable channel -- would start at $500 million (think what Al-Jazeera paid for Current). But probably would cost much more more -- several billion.

A more like option would be to start a modest Glenn Beck-type “The Blaze” digital media site, which has advertising -- or perhaps a full-subscription media network. Beck is also in this space: A digitally delivered effort, TheBlaze TV, has a $9.95 a month price tag.

But an ad-supported TV network?  That’s a tougher job. It’s business at work -- and thus even more scrutiny. Who needs that kind of promotion?