ESPN Grabs Political Football

Get ready for more political ads to appear on "SportsCenter" this fall.

ESPN has come up with a way to sell a bigger portion of its ad time to political campaigns. The sports network has struck a deal with a middleman that will result in more political ads appearing on ESPN programs, including NFL and college football games, in October and November—the critical period before the general election. There is "great demand" for ad time from "political parties and the super-PACs," said Ed Erhardt, ESPN's president of global customer marketing and sales. While cable has drawn an increasing share of viewers and overall television advertising over the past couple of decades, political advertising has remained primarily on broadcast TV. That's because cable networks are mostly national outlets, while most political ads are sold locally. And local TV ad time is more readily available on broadcast TV stations, including those affiliated with national networks. Cable networks give up a couple of minutes an hour to cable operators, who then sell the time to local advertisers. But cable in recent years has promoted its ability to target geographically more narrowly than broadcast TV. And increased ratings have helped cable win more political ad dollars. Cable is expected to draw about 14% of TV political ad spending this year.