The shortfall against 2014 means that spending in the critical political ad category will also be off against 2012, the last presidential year and best comp, according to researcher Brian Wieser. As expected, the gains and losses in the category varied from group to group.
Wieser: Political Spot in Oct. Off 5% Vs. 2014
Political advertising spending in October came up 5% short of what it was in 2014, suggesting that total spend for this entire year will be up only 10% over 2014 and down from 2012, the comparable presidential year.
That’s according to an analysis of data from Advertising Analytics by Brian Wieser of Pivotal Research Group.
“October is the make-or-break month for this category of spending with approximately half of the year’s total,” Wieser’s report says. “The data we have reviewed indicates the year will end well below levels which most expected at the beginning of this election cycle.
“During the last presidential election year of 2012, local TV stations and local cable generated $2.6 billion from political advertising, per Magna Global. During the most recent non-presidential election year of 2014, this spending amounted to $2.3 billion.
“Both figures were approximately double the amounts generated by these media owners only a decade earlier and represented approximately 15% of all local TV spending.”
Some of the political winners and losers in October (2016 vs. 2014): NBC (+90%), ABC (+22%), Sinclair (+19%), CBS (+4%), Tribune (+2%) Media General (-34%), Tegna (-33%), Fox (-21%) and Meredith (-9%).
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