Cable’s Crucial New Role in Campaigns
Business Week February 4, 2008 p. 063
This article is about how the presidential candidates are using targeted regional TV spots to find probable supporters. The 2008 Presidential candidates are expected to spend $800 million-plus on television ads, most of which normally goes to broadcast stations. This year the campaigns—Democrat and Republican alike—are trying something different and buying more airtime on cable channels than ever before.
So why has it suddenly changed? Campaign managers say cable’s niche channels enable them to match up voting and viewer data and more directly target potential supporters. For example: say Republicans over 35 are the target, they will probably be watching Fox News a couple of times a week. For Democrats the add should go on CNN. “Cable has made a real effort this election to reach out to us,” says Bobby Kahn, a media buyer for Senator John Edwards’ campaign. “We like cable because it allows us to target geographically.”
According to the article, cable is aggressively pursuing campaign ad dollars. Since the cable industry knows that cash-strained campaigns are eager to make the most efficient ad buys possible. They are arguing that since some of their shows repeat several times a week the candidates can get more than one shot at a demographic.
Nielsen viewership numbers helped Senator Barack Obama’s campaign target African American voters in Iowa. Using historical voting data, the Obama campaign bought targeted ads on those channels in the region where many African American voters live.
The cable business is also pitching to campaigns a new gimmick called Elections ’08 On Demand. Candidates will be able to air longer ads (from 2 to 30 minutes each) that viewers can cho ...