Newspapers Make Gains in Political-Ad Spending

By: Jennifer Saba Now that the election dust has settled, an official tally of gains by medium during the 2004 political contest shows the newspaper industry's effort to hustle for dollars has paid off.

According to a report from media research firm PQ Media released in late December, newspapers reaped $61 million in actual political spending -- a $4-million difference from the estimated $58 million. The report said that although "newspapers' share of overall spending rose slightly in 2004 compared with the 2000 level, total spending on newspapers more than doubled this year compared with 2000 expenditures."

The report pinned the increase in newspaper advertising on the industry's "proactive strategy to reaching out to politicians early in the campaign," the impact of the Feingold-McCain Act on 527 groups, and the fact that TV was sold out in many markets.

Total spending on political advertising including marketing communications (public relations, direct mail, etc.) reached $2.74 billion in 2004, compared with $1.21 billion in 2000.

As always, broadcast TV took the biggest slice of the pie with 52.8% or $1.4 billion. Yet when compared to previous years, TV's share is slipping. In 2002, TV commanded 56.4% of all political dollars; in 2000, it was 56.1%.

Perhaps the most surprising finding was the huge increase in direct mail. The report said that almost 5.8 billion pieces were sent out. In the Cleveland area, for example, the report found it was not uncommon for specific voters to receive over 20 pieces of mail a day. Twenty four percent of political spending went towards direct mail this year (or $648 million dollars compared to $242 million in 2000).

Not surprising was the use of the Internet. The Kerry campaign and related 527s employed banner ads and pop-ups. But both the Bush and the Kerry campaigns focused on e-mail targeting. The report found that both camps had e-mail databases that totaled 10 million addresses. Online spending in 2004 amounted to $29 million, versus $5 million in 2002 and $3 million in 2000.