Reader BG sends in this little piece of sadness about the effect of the lack of political ads on TV stations’ bottom lines:
According to data compiled by Pew Research, some big companies have suffered major revenue losses this year due to the lack of political advertising. The Washington Post Co., which owns six local television stations, saw an 18 percent revenue decline this year, with a $16 million loss in political ad money. Scripps, which owns 19 local television stations, amassed just $1 million in political ad revenue in the third quarter of this year, compared with nearly $33 million during the same period in 2012. Seven major companies in total showed significant declines in revenue this year compared with last year.
I’ve had a DVR for years and I don’t watch a lot of sports, so I miss most political commercials. I doubt that I’m the only one. Still, it’s an easy way for deep-pocket PACs to spend lots of money, so they’ll be back next year.
Mike G
Here we see the financial motivation for the media to hype elections.
I miss the parliamentary system where the government calls an election maybe a couple of months ahead, instead of the nonstop fustercluck of US presidential campaigns. We’re 3 years out from 2016 and the corporate media’s obsessive ruminating speculation about candidates is already becoming annoying.
MB
Eh. 2012 was a juggernaut year. It’s like noting that spending on Olympic pins is down the year *after* the Olympics.
Far more interesting to note the impact of specific-issue buying patterns on specific-issue coverage by networks/stations.
Keith G
I am suprised that there aren’t corporations calling for a change in the Constitution to divide up terms in the House and Senate so that there are significant numbers of elections for federal offices every November. To not do that would be to hate capitalism.
Don K
@Keith G:
FTW!
With elections for Governor and Senator (to say nothing of Secretary of State, Attorney General, and Supreme Court justices) next year, we in MI will have plenty of opportunities to see political ads. Hell, last year I saw ads on cable for a State House race west of Ann Arbor, which is nowhere near Bloomfield Township. I fully expect to see a full complement of ads for the state legislature, and maybe for Congress, depending on how Kerry Bentivoglio’s primary goes in August.
Anoniminous
I’d like to see Democrats spend more in 2014 for GOTV operations. Got our collective asses kicked in 2010 because not enough of “our people” engaged.
James E. Powell
I don’t know where the campaign-to-voter communication game is moving, but things are always moving. It is a mistake to believe that things will remain the same. The campaigns themselves, however, will always be one or two cycles behind reality because stakeholders have an interest in things as they are.
Are there studies of the impacts of TV ads in Ohio 2012? Anecdotal evidence from people I know in my beloved home state suggests that every voter was committed before the ads began to run.
Anoniminous
@James E. Powell:
Most of the time pro-ads do not persuade and attack ads lower voter turnout.
WereBear
It was a factor in driving our household to DVD collection, library rental, and internet options.
Schlemizel
If those numbers are correct from the washinton whorepost are correct the get approximately $90 million in ad revenue every year. Thats just the crap they sell I assume so cooperative sales probably are not included. from 6 television stations – cry me big salty tears you useless scum sucking leeches
Schlemizel
@Schlemizel:
Typing “whorepost” made me remember what a great site “Media Whores Online” was and how much I miss them
We intended to bring the media to it’s knees but discovered they were already there!
jheartney
The good news about saturation political advertising is that it’s subject very much to diminishing returns. As more and more of that crap saturates available outlets, all of it destroys its own impact. So you could think of it as a kind of Robin Hood exercise – the Sheldon Adelson’s of the world dump millions of their ill-gotten gains onto local TV markets, and get nothing in return. The money then circulates into the economy the rest of us inhabit.
jheartney
@Schlemizel: Better known as “The Horse.” Actual author never revealed him/herself.
Schlemizel
@jheartney:
YUP! I believe Bartcop was one of them, he has never claimed it but he always seemed to know what was going on with them. I believe it has been rumored a woman “JennyQ” was the heart of the operation but I have no idea.
I owe my sanity to Terry Coppage, back in the late 90’s when I thought the whole world had gone insane, when the Judas Democrats were hounding Clinton and Mush Lamebrain was treated like a god his “Rush Limbaugh, lying, Nazi Whore” was a rude, crude breath of fresh air. The poor guy had to listen to Lamebrain at work so he would come home & dissect the lies and bullshit. He was course and vulgar and exactly what was needed. He softened his edges & it is now just “bartcop.com” your mom would not blush reading him today. I think he struggles to keep the site online but I still visit and help as I can.
namekarB
It’s the American way. Politicians and PACs beg for donations so they deposit it all in the pockets of Corporate Media.
Kyle
i thankfully live in San Francisco where our opinions are well-settled and well known, so we are subjected to fewer ads. I’d rethink my opinion on gun laws if I had to endure the commercials that are barraged in a toss-up area.
Aji
If you ever wondered what the practical (i.e., monetary) reason was for mass media to hype the political horserace/both-sides-do-it campaign bullshit more religiously every cycle, now you know.
Villago Delenda Est
Greed will destroy this country. It’s in the process of destroying us. Mammon does not care about people. Nor do his many followers.
fuckwit
It was their kind of dipping their toes into a protest song, almost: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_e6jmjOSb4