Economic Choices 2008 - Ad Money

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Barack Obama and John McCain still haven't officially been selected as their parties' presidential candidates, but they've already begun spending money like nominees. As NBR Washington bureau chief Darren Gersh reports, the candidates are inundating media with money.



Discuss this story on XChange - The NBR Blog.

Table: Campaign Media Spending

Just how much have presidential candidates spent on ads so far during the 2008 campaign season? Here's a table containing some of the data TV stations and media analysts are reporting about political ad buying.

Campaign Media Spending
PRIMARIES
Iowa TV	$41 million
Massachusetts TV	$20 million
Pennsylvania TV	$17 million
Texas TV	$16 million
GENERAL ELECTION
Iowa TV	$100 million
California TV	$500 million

Want more Economic Choices 2008?

External Links/Articles*

• Advertising Age
  Advertising Age is a magazine dedicated to reporting and analyzing the "goings-on in the world of advertising." This links to a May 19, 2008 entry in the magazine's blog authored by Evan Tracey of the Campaign Media Analysis Group (CMAG), who is interviewed in Darren Gersh's report. Tracey's entry is titled, "General Election Ad Spending Will be Tuned Up to 11."
• Benchmark Company
  Benchmark is a broker dealer serving institutional and private clients. This links to information about Edward Atorino, the Benchmark media analyst interviewed in Darren Gersh's report.
• NDN
  NDN is a Democratic think tank. The organization's president, Simon Rosenberg, is interviewed in Darren Gersh's report.
• OpenSecrets.org
  OpenSecrets.org is the website of The Center for Responsive Politics, a non-partisan, non-profit research group based in Washington, D.C. that tracks money in politics and its effect on elections and public policy. This links to a section of the website titled, "Banking on Becoming President." It tracks the money raised and spent by presidential candidates.
• TNS Media Intelligence/CMAG
  TNS is home to the Campaign Media Analysis Group. The group provides "data and analysis for political, public affairs and issue advocacy advertising." The firm's COO, Evan Tracey, is interviewed in Darren Gersh's report. On the TNS/CMAG site, you can see an update of the total spending on political and issue ads since January 1, 2008.

*Clicking these external links will take you off the NBR web site on PBS.org. NBR has no affiliation with these sites.