Nielsen Monitor-Plus Industry Spotlight: Political Advertising.

As the 2005 U.S. elections are approaching, Nielsen Monitor-Plus takes a closer look at political advertising for recent months and some of the local campaigns throughout the country.

In the total U.S., 107,171 political advertisements aired during the 12 weeks from August 1 to October 16, 2005, and over half of these spots (57,682) were placed in just ten markets. The chart below lists the ten markets that aired the most political commercials during this period. New York led the way with 15,285 spots, mainly for the NY Mayoral and NJ Governor races. Six of the top ten markets are in California, with a collective total of 31,500
political commercials.

The chart shows the type of political races or issues that are in contention this fall. There are 28 different campaigns about various referendums up for debate, airing 62,150 commercials on local television. Eight Governor/Lt. Governor candidates have run over 21,000 spots across 15 DMAs. Interestingly, the Harlingen-Weslaco-Brownsville DMA, which is located on the Texas/Mexico border, saw almost 1,600 ads from the 11 different candidates/parties’ campaigning for the Mexican Presidency.

The chart lists the issues or political candidates that ran the most commercials, airing almost 70,000 spots between August 1 and October 16, 2005. 18,010 commercials in 11 DMAs ran for “Vote No on Proposition 79” (RE: California Prescription drugs). New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg, running for re-election, ran the fifth most commercials in the country, and is the only candidate in the top 10 whose election affects just one market.

Since May 2005, Mayor Mike Bloomberg and his opponent Fernando Ferrer have been placing political advertisements across local broadcast and Spanish-Language television for the upcoming Mayoral elections in the New York DMA. Mayor Bloomberg placed 273% more commercials than Ferrer, with a total of 6,620 commercials and 1,773 commercials respectively. Both candidates placed a majority of their political advertising in local news programs. In fact, about half of Bloomberg’s total TV ads have been placed in local news while 57% of Ferrer’s total TV ads have been placed in local news. Besides local news, among the top programs in which Mayor Bloomberg has advertised, the majority include morning and late night programs, as well as syndicated talk shows. Ferrer has concentrated his advertising on Spanish-Language and syndicated programs.

New Jersey is one of the few states that does not have its own exclusive TV markets for the state. The state is divided between two markets from other states: New York and Philadelphia. In the battle for NJ Governor, Jon Corzine aired 18% more commercials than Douglas Forrester (4,723 vs. 4,001). Both candidates concentrated the majority of their TV ad efforts in the New York DMA.

In the 11 markets that make up the state of California, 44,122 political commercials aired between August and October 16, 2005. “Vote No on Proposition 79” had the most activity, with over 18,000 commercials airing. In fact, referendum-related advertising accounted for 43,996 or 99.7% of the spots during this period.

To view charts CLICK above on ‘More Images’.