Political ad spending

During pre-election peaks when political ads make up more than a quarter of all commercials, auto ads take a steeper hit than others, appearing 50% less frequently than usual. Kantar Media says the only category of commercials unaffected by the amount of political ad spending is the slice of airtime that stations reserve for their own promotions and public service announcements.

Flush with money for television commercials, Super PACs supporting Republican presidential candidates  are committing multimillion-dollar budgets to thousands of 30-second ads in a coming air war over Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina.

The National Republican Senatorial Committee’s independent expenditure arm is in the process of increasing its television reservations by at least $7.4 million for the final three weeks before Election Day, according to a source familiar with the group’s plans. In addition to a $1 million buy in South Dakota, the NRSC is increasing its buys by $1 million in Alaska, $1.5 million in Colorado, $1.45 million in Georgia, $1.25 million in Iowa and $1.2 million in New Hampshire.

With 2014 marking the first full year of a national election under relaxed rules for how much can be spent on a political campaign, stations are poised for record campaign spending that can translate into record levels of political file reporting.Count on these filings being heavily scrutinized. It’s more important than ever to ensure everyone involved is up to speed on what needs to happen and how to avoid any potential fines or the damage to a station’s reputation that can result from running afoul the FCC rules.

Total online political ad spending is projected to soar to almost $1 billion in 2016 U.S. political races that are expected to generate more than $12 billion for all contests — almost $51 for every qualified voter — according to a report to be released today by Borrell Associates.

The Tampa-St. Petersburg, Fla., market isn’t seeing nearly the TV ad dollars it was at this time last year, when political spending was pouring into this perennial swing state and it was nearly impossible for advertisers to get on TV at the last minute. But even without the political money, Tampa is seeing strong TV spending while bracing for another busy political year in 2014.

Considering Time Warner Cable serves a large chunk of New York City, it stands to reason the WCBS blackout would hurt the station’s efforts to attract ad dollars in the heavily contested Big Apple mayor’s race. And indeed, that appears to be the case with only one candidate having booked time covering any period during the darkness that started Aug. 2.

With a huge amount of spending in October, as the gap between the two presidential candidates narrowed and the election neared, political advertising did indeed set a record this year. Spot TV political advertising hit $2.9 billion, according to final numbers released this morning by Wells Fargo. That was up 26.7% over the $2.29 billion spent in 2010, the previous record.

Wells Fargo’s Marci Ryvicker says adding in network and national spot, political advertising on total broadcast TV increases to $1.33 billion for the year to date through Sept. 30.

Ad spending in the presidential campaign has now topped $800 million and is on pace to reach or come close to $1 billion, according to an NBC analysis of data provided by ad-buying firm SMG Delta. The states seeing the biggest spending are the usual suspects: Florida, Ohio, and Virginia, where more than half of all the money’s been spent — $452 million.

Republican vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan will spend $2 million on TV ads asking Wisconsin voters to send him back to the House of Representatives. Ryan’s congressional campaign manager confirmed that the House Budget Committee chairman plans to spend $1.5 million on ads on TV stations and local cable in Milwaukee. The campaign will spend an additional $500,000 on ads in Madison between Oct. 18 and Nov. 6.

Freedom PAC, the super PAC supporting Rep. Connie Mack in his Senate run in Florida against incumbent Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson, is going on air for the next two weeks with a spot featuring the Republican hopeful speaking.

Texas, Nevada, California and New York plus Washington D.C. account for two-thirds of every dollar contributed to super PACs from Jan. 1, 2011 to June 30, 2012. These states and D.C. represent only one-quarter of the U.S. population.

Spending represents a shift away from advertising during local news broadcasts, long considered a natural spot for campaign ads because they draw the most politically active audience.

The National Republican Congressional Committee is pumping millions of dollars more into its effort to go after vulnerable Democrats and shore up incumbents in key states such as Michigan and Ohio.

The Obama campaign has pumped nearly $14 million into a new, multi-week wave of television ads. The ad reservations span June 12 to July 2, covering Ohio, Florida, North Carolina, Virginia, Iowa, Nevada, Colorado, Pennsylvania and New Hampshire.

The TV ad race is tightening, with demand and pricing on the rise as a close Senate race, ballot issues and the presidential election start to eat up inventory.

The conventional wisdom holds that the 2012 campaign will set records for TV spending. But that’s not how things have gone so far, says Wells Fargo Securities analyst Marci Rivicker. But spending in March was 12% over the average for the month in the previous cycles. That leaves Ryvicker unsure of whether 2012 political TV spending will come in ahead or behind her forecast of $2.7 billion.

Ramping up his effort to recover from his embarrassing debate performance last Wednesday, Gov. Rick Perry of Texas purchased nearly $1 million in advertising time on Fox News Channel, an extraordinary commitment of resources intended to jolt his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination back on track.

Certainly the Big Four network affiliates in Des Moines have seen an influx of spending from three of the nine GOP candidates competing in the straw poll. But despite this recent flurry of spending, there’s still only been half as much activity as in 2007 — about $600,000 has been spent on political advertising in the state through Aug. 7.

The political balance of power in Wisconsin may shift today as voters in six state Senate districts decide whether to recall a half-dozen Republicans and add fuel to attempts to oust first-term Gov. Scott Walker. Spending on the recall campaigns, aimed at six Republicans tomorrow and two Democrats Aug. 16, may almost triple the combined cost of all 115 state legislative races in 2010, according to the nonpartisan Wisconsin Democracy Campaign. Costs may approach $40 million, the group said.

Thanks largely to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s high-profile campaign to hang on to his seat in November, KSNV Las Vegas was one of the many stations around the country to enjoy a political advertising windfall. To make amends to regular advertisers who were shoved around to make room for the TV campaigners, says GM Lisa Howfield, the NBC affiliate is now offering a “local political rate card” discount to them. “We’re trying to issue our own stimulus package.”

Anti-incumbent anger and “tea party” conservatives may have set the tone for this year’s midterm elections, but it was mostly experienced political operatives — not fervent newcomers — who managed the money. While billions of dollars were spent on campaign ads and other efforts to gin up discontent with Washington, much of the spending was handled by veteran political consultants at a few longtime media firms — many in Washington.

The head of Kantar’s Campaign Media Analysis Group, Evan Tracey, says that in the just-completed election season, TV stations were still the No. 1 ad medium at $2.4 billion. Any money that moved from broadcasting to other media was solely because broadcasting could not meet all the demand, he said.

Many stations that had severe advertising losses in 2009 are benefiting financially from the mudslinging ads in the midterm elections. The victims, so to speak, are the local businesses whose ads are drowned out by the political din and the viewers who quickly tire of seeing the same attack ads over and over.

Another election cycle, another year of bitter partisan bickering, another record-breaking mountain of cash spent on political advertising — all of which add up to tight inventory for local TV affiliates. According to Kantar Media’s Campaign Media Analysis Group, ad spending this season will top $3 billion. Borrell Associates has predicted spending will get as high as $4.2 billion this year.

For TV viewers, this cutthroat election year is a riot of attack ads and media saturation made possible by big-money donors. For TV stations, it’s a stimulus package.One research group expects TV political spending to hit a record $3 billion, and the windfall may continue well past Election Day because regular advertisers are getting squeezed out of the schedule and could spend their ad budgets later.