US elections: newspapers push for more political advertising revenue

Posted by Bertrand Pecquerie on July 17, 2004 at 12:07 AM

According to Presstime-NAA, "In the high-stakes race for political advertising dollars, never have US newspapers been better positioned to capture some of the spoils that traditionally fatten the coffers of television and radio. Recent changes in campaign finance laws, an increasingly fragmented broadcast landscape, and a desire to return to old-fashioned grass-roots politics could be a winning trifecta for newspaper executives. The multibillion-dollar political advertising category grows at a rate of about 10 percent every four years, but newspapers traditionally receive very little of the winnings. During the 2000 presidential campaign, the heartiest chunk of the political advertising pie, $807 million, went to TV, while newspapers got nothing more than an estimated $30 million piece of crust."

"Anticipating a political advertising climate more favorable to newspapers in 2004, and to repair the disconnect, NAA embarked on a national campaign in 2002 to promote newspaper as an effective medium for communicating the political advertising messages of campaigns and advocacy groups. To demonstrate the industry?s ability to deliver voters, the Association commissioned a bipartisan media usage survey of 1,200 registered voters.

The survey... confirmed a notion long held by publishers: The people who pull the levers in the voting booths?three out of every four?are newspaper readers.

Voters surveyed also said they trusted political ads in newspapers more than political ads on television or radio, and ranked newspapers second behind TV for providing the information most helpful when trying to make up their minds about how to vote in state and local elections.

Source: NAA