Local political television spending was approaching $2B as of 10/21, and when national spot and network are added in, the spending easily clears that benchmark, according to the latest report from Wells Fargo Securities.
According to Wells Fargo’s Marci Ryvicker, local spot has reached receipts of $1.91B, and the number rises to $2.11B when national and network are added in.
Ryvicker noted that $688.2M was spent during the first three weeks of October alone.
Companies best situated to benefit have been Sinclair, LIN, News Corp., Gannett and CBS.
As huge as the presidential spending has been, it has boiled down to only two candidates v. about 500 candidates running for the US Congress. As such, Congress has spent the biggest sliver of the $1.91B, chipping in 40.8% of that amount. 35.3% has been spent on the presidential contest, 20.4% on ballot issues and 3.5% on local.
Fundraising totals have reached $5.17B as of 10/17 – of course, not all of that money is spent on broadcast advertising.
Washington DC, Los Angeles, Cleveland, Las Vegas and Tampa are the hottest markets in terms of real dollars. In terms of dollars as a percentage of total market revenue, the hot spots are Butte-Bozeman MT, Great Falls MT, Davenport IA, Helena MT and Sioux City IA.
RBR-TVBR observation: The fun is almost over – and for those of us on the receiving side of the political onslaught, it can’t come a moment too soon. However, we realize how important this time of year is to those who own and operate television stations.
This household has been getting a double-dose – we are officially part of the Norfolk DMA but prefer Gray’s WITN Greenville NC for our local news. Both DMAs have been fiercely contested on our airwaves since back in the spring.
We know this has been great for Gray and other operators in the two states, but I speak for my entire family when I state that as simple private citizens, w-e // h-a-v-e // h-a-d // E // N-U-F-F!!!!!!
We’re at the point where we would welcome the most annoying commercial content that Madison Avenue or any other ad shop can dream up, just as long as there is nobody saying they approve it.
