Behind the record political ad dollars

A Q&A with Peter Leitzinger, analyst at SNL Kagan on political advertising. Some excerpts:

• We knew political was going to be higher than the 2008 election. In our original 10-year projection we estimated this year to be $2.5 billion in local TV revenue, and by 2018 that number would grow to $3 billion. The original $2.5 billion projection represented a 21 percent increase over the $2.09 billion in 2010 and 63 percent over the $1.55 billion in 2008. We had to revise those numbers because of the massive Olympic spend, early caucuses/primaries, and the importance the PACs and super PACs were placing on television. Our new estimate stands at $2.6 billion in political revenue.
• The Citizens United ruling was a huge part of the increase in political spending, but this year seemed to be the perfect storm for political advertising that started with the Olympics and ramped up all the way through election day. We saw political spending on local TV start earlier than the last few years in part due to the Olympics being a perfect advertising platform for the candidates and the early caucuses and primaries held in January. We also saw a record amount of political contributions for both parties. A larger amount of political ad dollars was spent on the Congressional elections as well, because of the competition between parties to control Congress was at stake.
• Television will always be king for the political candidates because it can effectively communicate a message to a market/demographic that no other medium can. Using sound, picture and message candidates can influence voters in a way that radio and internet cannot.