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The new AT&T/Time Warner won’t just be out in the market selling advertising, they’ll be the nation’s biggest buyers of media, statistics show.
If AT&T survives regulatory scrutiny without having to divest too many assets, the new AT&T will become the nation’s No. 1 advertiser — leaping past Procter & Gamble, the maker of toilet paper, toothpaste and laundry detergent.
The mega-merger is expected to take a year to close.
Dallas-based AT&T spent $3.9 billion on US ads in 2015, according to Advertising Age data, more than double the $1.7 billion spent by Time Warner.
Together, the combined companies will leap frog over P&G’s $4.3 billion ad spend and into the No. 1 spot with a combined total of roughly $5.6 billion.
AT&T ads for its DirecTV unit are currently on the air. The firm’s new product, DirecTV Now, an online cable-like bundle of 100 channels is set to get a marketing push for its Nov. 4 launch.
AT&T would become the biggest media owner, leaping over Comcast, which owns NBCUniversal, but would sit behind Apple, Google, Amazon and Facebook in terms of market capitalization.


