political ads

For many of the Democrats who were running against better-financed rivals recently, the breakthrough moment came after they got personal in relatively low-cost videos that went viral, reaching millions of people. Using documentary-style storytelling, which can last for several minutes, candidates have found a successful alternative to the traditional model of raising huge sums of money that get spent on expensive, 30-second television commercials.

Next Gen TV will allow broadcasters to deliver hyperlocal content over-the-air, and they need to get serious about it.

Donald Trump opened his wallet wide for his presidential campaign in March, loaning it $11.5 million, nearly twice as much as he’s shelled out in any previous month, according to a report filed Wednesday night with the Federal Election Commission. Trump’s campaign also increased its spending, shelling out nearly $13.8 million, marking the first month in which he outspent his main rival for the GOP nomination, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who spent $11.8 million last month.

The Senate Republicans’ campaign arm has begun to reserve almost $28 million in television buys ahead of what’s likely to be a brutal battle over the Senate majority. All but one of the buys are aimed at protecting vulnerable incumbents. A significant investment in Nevada, meanwhile, is part of the GOP’s plans to flip the seat after Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D) retires.

Hillary Clinton is turning her endorsements from the New York Daily News and the New York Times into a television commercial that will begin airing Friday in New York City across the five boroughs.

Chris Abele, Milwaukee’s multimillionaire county executive, has recently purchased nearly $500,000 of TV air time, while his opponent, state Sen. Chris Larson,  has bought a little less than $10,000 of TV air time on the four local affiliates so he can broadcast his lone ad.

At least four advertisers are buying 30-second spots before and during the big game in New Hampshire and South Carolina markets.

Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign released its first television ad on Sunday as part of a $2 million voter outreach effort in Iowa and New Hampshire. The minute-long spot, heavy on his biography and some of his policies, tells viewers the Vermont senator is the son of a Polish immigrant, spent his youth in a Brooklyn tenement and attended public schools before being elected mayor of Burlington, Vermont.

Viewer complaints have prompted Baton Rouge, La., ABC affiliate WBRZ to pull a political ad that looked like a station newscast.

Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina says her campaign is in it for the long haul, and as such it’s not yet the right moment to begin a campaign ad blitz.

Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton’s campaign will air its first television ads this week in the early voting states of Iowa and New Hampshire. Clinton’s campaign will air two 60-second biographical spots starting Tuesday: one that focuses on her mother’s childhood and another highlighting Clinton’s many titles throughout her life.

Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who will announce his presidential campaign later this month, is preparing to launch a TV ad in New Hampshire — backed with a substantial buy — that hints at how he’d distinguish himself from the crowded pack of Republican candidates. According to a media tracking source, Kasich’s political action committee, New Day for America, has purchased almost $500,000 in TV time from stations in the Boston and Manchester, N.H., markets as of Wednesday afternoon, to air the spot. The ad flight is set to begin on Thursday and end on July 13.

During the final two months of last year’s election, television viewers in the tri-state Philadelphia area were barraged during news broadcasts with four times as much political advertising as actual news about the campaign. While Philly is a very distinctive place, there’s no reason to think this is a local phenomenon, an aberration. Experts say there’s little doubt the situation is the same throughout the country, and will be so in 2016, particularly in battleground states.

We’re going to see a lot more made-for-the-Web political advertising in the next election because candidates are drawn to Facebook, especially for its lower expense. Looking ahead, those ads won’t be a roadblock to other content, but streaming directly in users’ feeds, where they’ll have a few seconds to grab attention. Another disruption alert for local broadcasters is sounding loudly here.

The political network overseen by the conservative billionaires Charles G. and David H. Koch plans to spend close to $900 million on the 2016 campaign, an unparalleled effort by coordinated outside groups to shape a presidential election that is already on track to be the most expensive in history.

The News Orleans Fox affiliate says U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu’s latest campaign ad misrepresents remarks anchor John Snell made during Friday’s broadcast. Landrieu is in jeopardy of losing her Senate seat to Republican challenger Bill Cassidy in Saturday’s runoff.

Viewers in West Michigan couldn’t escape the bombardment of ads during the most recent campaign cycle, and perhaps that’s an understatement. One research firm said its figures show Gannett’s Grand Rapids, MIch., ABC affiliate 13 ran 1,820 ads during the time leading up to Tuesday’s election — the most of any individual TV station across the county.

After his news reports appeared in ads for North Carolina Senate candidate Thom Tillis (R) and incumbent Kay Hagan (D), WCNC Charlotte, N.C., reporter Stuart Watson said he got tired of having people ask him if he “approved this message.” He asked a local expert about the practice of using news clips from local TV stations without permission.

Newsrooms generally cheer when their exclusives get picked up and credited by others. But in the case of a recent WMAQ investigative report, the NBC-owned station isn’t happy about how it’s being used at all. At issue is a 30-second spot that began airing throughout Illinois Friday for Democratic Governor Pat Quinn in his campaign for reelection against Republican challenger Bruce Rauner. The commercial excerpts an NBC 5 report about Rauner and includes the voice of political editor Carol Marin.

KXAS, the NBC-owned station in Dallas, is disputing the use of its footage in a political ad for Dan Branch, who is running for Attorney General of Texas.

Elections this year will once again serve as a referendum on the Affordable Care Act and many Democrats are already distancing themselves in ads from the controversial health care law. The bumpy roll out of the federal health exchange website and the cancellations of millions of individual health care policies shook Democrats in tough races. Some of these Democrats are already on the air criticizing the law and saying changes are needed, although none have been rebellious enough to demand its repeal.

The Mark Zuckerberg-backed organization pressing for immigration reform will launch its first wave of television ads Tuesday. FWD.us, the organization formed to push Silicon Valley’s priorities in Washington, will advocate for a new immigration law through a subsidiary group created specifically to court conservatives. Americans for a Conservative Direction will spend seven figures to run ads in more than half a dozen states, according to strategists who sketched out the organization’s plans.

News still ranks as one of the best places to run political ads, but there’s only so much inventory available. With markets already saturated with election advertising — markets like Washington, D.C. and Las Vegas are already airing more than 10,000 ads a week — programming other than news is a strong option, and in some cases, as the TiVo data suggests, may reach more independent voters.

In an analysis of local broadcast TV outlets in the top 128 U.S. markets in October, Cleveland stations aired the highest proportion of political and issue advertising. Nielsen found that about one out of every four paid TV ads aired on local Cleveland stations was placed by a political candidate or outside political group.

NEW YORK (AP) – Television viewers were probably exposed to more political ads last month than ever before. The Nielsen Co. said Friday that nearly 1.48 million political ads aired […]

Although there will not be many ads attacking candidates next year, third parties inspired by their recent election experience can, and perhaps many will, continue to do “issue advertising” outside election seasons. Legally, stations have far more flexibility in handling third-party ads than candidate ads, but also far more potential exposure to liability for the ads’ content. Here’s what stations need to know.