Election Advertising Boost

ELECTION ADVERTISING BOOST
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable]
In perhaps the most significant midterm election since 1994, when Republicans swept Congress, a winner has already been declared: TV stations. Thanks to the possibility of the Democrats' capturing control of one or both houses, stations will pull in nearly $2 billion in political advertising this season. That far surpasses the previous, $1.25 billion record for a single election season. A war in Iraq, an energized electorate and tight races have led to more coverage by the Big Three broadcast networks. Has the media done a better job? Andrew Tyndall reports that the Big Three broadcast networks' coverage of this campaign has already broken the record set for midterm coverage 12 years ago. The 1994 campaign set a record with twice the coverage of a normal, incumbent-friendly midterm election, logging a three-network total of 216 minutes in the first 10 months of that year. In the same period leading up to Election Day 2006, the current campaign has clocked 240 min. of coverage. (Contrast those with the other midterm totals in the Tyndall Report database: 1990: 157 min.; 1998: 107 min.; 2002: 140 min.)
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