New York Post: A Political Fix
By Holly Sanders Ware
After a slow start, the cable guys are gaining traction with political advertisers who typically go straight to their broadcast TV brethren.
While candidates and political consultants still lavish the lion's share of their budgets on local stations, they are finding it harder to ignore cable's growing clout and targeting capabilities.
The cable ad business -- which can be broken down into local spots sold by cable operators and national ads bought from cable networks -- has seen its share of political dollars jump since 2004.
As overall spending on political TV campaigns hit $2.6 billion in 2008, the amount spent on cable ads, including local and national, more than tripled to between $325 and $400 million, according to industry estimates.
In 2004, the last presidential election year comparable to 2008, the combined figure for the cable industry was less than $100 million.
"It is no longer a luxury to buy cable," said Evan Tracey of Kantar Media's Campaign Media Analysis Group, which tracks political advertising. "It's a necessity."
This year's midterm elections, with an unusually high number of governor's offices and Senate seats closely contested, will bring a windfall in TV ad spending between $2.5 billion and $3 billion.
As political ads clog the broadcast airwaves, swamping local TV stations and driving up prices, more campaigns will spill over into cable.
Aside from the political tsunami, the cable industry chalks up its market-share gains in part to its ability to zero in on voters.
