Campaigns turning to cable for cheap television advertising

When the Club for Growth wanted to buy statewide ads on Fox News Channel for a week in February, it had no problem. But when the conservative group--which backed U.S. Rep. Pat Toomey against U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter in the April 27 Pennsylvania Senate primary--tried to secure airtime during the last week of the campaign, Fox News was sold out.

The lack of available time on Fox demonstrates the rising popularity of cable networks as vehicles to reach voters this election year. Besides targeting voters geographically, cable can reach specific demographic groups. Voters who watch news, particularly on the 24-hour cable networks, tend to be politically engaged.

For Republican primary voters, "there's really nothing else out there like it," said David Keating, executive director of the Club for Growth, the Washington, D.C., group that supports Republicans who strongly favor tax cuts.

Political experts are noticing, too.

"I've been watching politics for 30 years, and I've never seen more extensive use of cable," said Terry Madonna, who directs the Keystone Poll at Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, Pa. "As a regular cable watcher, you cannot get through a 15-minute cycle without a [political] commercial."

When then-U.S. Rep. Ernie Fletcher, R-Ky., ran for governor last fall, media buyer Kyle Roberts ran spot cable ads in border markets to avoid wasting money on broadcast viewers in other states. By running ads on cable stations, the ad can be targeted to only those who are the state's residents and eligible to vote. Roberts also bought ads early and ran them often because "people tune in and out quickly on cable."

"You've got to keep driving your message," he added.

The Bush campaign has spent about $3 million on national cable this year. In 2000, the Bush/Cheney campaign bought almost no time on cable. Evan L. Tracey, president of TNSMI/Campaign Media Analysis Group, which tracks political advertising, said $3 million is an unprecedented amount for a presidential campaign.

"We are finding people are increasingly getting their information from a wider variety of sources," a Bush campaign aide said. "Our campaign is seeking to maximize each one of those ways in which people get their news and information, and cable is one way to do that."

The Bush campaign's decision to buy ads on networks like Fox News Channel, ESPN and the Speed Channel is no accident; it's a way to shore up support among white males, a key voting bloc.

John Kerry, on the other hand, purchased no national cable as of April. But he ran spot cable ads on local stations during the Democratic primaries.

Presidential campaigns face the dilemma of buying national cable and unnecessarily reaching voters in noncompetitive states or spending time to piece together spot ads in targeted states. Spot cable holds appeal for state and local candidates as a way to reach voters without the more expensive ads on local news stations.

In 2000, a large number of election ads for Bush and then Vice President Al Gore did not run until June, according to the Wisconsin Advertising Project, which analyzes political ads. This year a competitive Democratic primary and longer general election campaign pushed both candidates onto television earlier. Bush launched his national cable ad buy in early March.

The record amount of money spent in primary campaigns also is leading to an increase in ads.

"The more money [candidates] have, the more places they'll look to spend it," said Brooks Jackson, a former CNN correspondent who directs Factcheck.org, a project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center that analyzes the veracity of campaign ads.

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The skyrocketing number of cable channels means candidates have more venues on which to seek votes.

"If you want to expand the reach of your buy beyond 50 to 60 percent, you buy cable," Roberts said.

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The number of viewers tuning into cable is on the rise, and broadcast networks' ratings are declining so campaigns are choosing the most viable option.

Cable's future success rides on how well it works this year.

"Politics and political advertising is a follow-the-leader type of business," Tracey said.

Right now, cable makes up just a fraction of most campaigns' media buys. The Club for Growth allocated about 10 percent of its $1.4 million television advertising budget in the Pennsylvania primary for cable. (Toomey lost of Specter 50.8 percent to 49.2 percent). Using data from TNSMI, the Wisconsin Advertising Project found that Bush's national cable spots comprised 6.4 percent of his television ad spending from March 3 to March 22.

Cable is working to increase those numbers by helping campaigns figure out which networks reach certain demographics, changing inventory limits to allow campaigns to buy more time, and making it easier for campaigns to place ads.

National Cable Communications, the nation's largest spot cable advertising firm, recognizes that cable isn't going to replace broadcast, but says it offers campaigns another way to reach viewers.

"By giving us a portion of your media buy, your cost per vote, we can make that more efficient and effective," said Chuck Cowdrey, vice president for political sales.

It's a strategy that seems to be working.

"Candidates who rely on cable too much do so at their peril," Tracey said. "But candidates who ignore cable also do so at their peril."

Mary Lynn F. Jones is a Washington-based writer and online editor of The Hill.

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