Why TV Spending Went Down In 2016 Political Advertising

First and foremost, lower TV spending in 2016 political advertising may simply be a function of better media buying, said Ben Angle, senior media buyer-national media research at Planning & Placement. “In terms of TV being down, I think you really have to attribute it to master negotiators beating the stations down,” said Angle. Another factor was simply leveraging the TV calendar to commit buys during softer rate-card periods -- “booking in June, July -- or even, in some cases, May -- to get the best rate.” Angle said he did not really see a fundamental shift in the political media mix, and attributed most of the dollar-share changes to more effective and efficient TV buying. “There’s more to it than just people not spending money in TV,” he explained. That said, Elizabeth Kalmbach, vice president-group media direct at KSM Media, said TV’s share of political media budgets reflects what’s going on in all categories.