Tuesday, September 26, 2017

Kantar: Stations To See $2.4B Political In '18

Broadcast Industry News - Television , Cable, On-demand - TVNewsCheck.com

New projections from Kantar Media/CMAG show $2.4 billion in political spending to come to TV stations in 2018, up 14% from the 2014 midterms. Projections for cable are 41% growth from $600 million in 2014 to $850 million next year.  


TV stations will likely garner $2.4 billion in political spending next year, according to newly released projections from Kantar Media/CMAG. That would be a 14% rise over the 2014 midterm election results: $2.1 billion.

The $2.4 billion will account for 62% of total political spend during the year. Cable will likely garner $850 million in 2018 versus $600 million in 2014, a 41% gain and 22% share.
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And digital should pull in $600 million next year, a 16% share.

Local cable’s ability to target narrower geographic areas is much more strategic during midterm election years than Presidential election years, explained Steve Passwaiter, the Kantar/CMAG VP and GM. That’s because congressional districts don’t match up with DMAs.

Take, for example, the hotly contested special election for a U.S. Congress representative in Georgia’s 6th district earlier this year. “By no means was broadcast forsaken, but a pretty healthy share of the money went to local cable because that district only covered a fraction of the Atlanta DMA,” Passwaiter said. However, he noted, “local cable didn’t do all that well in the [last] Presidential race.”

Kantar’s TV station projections are lower than estimates from Kagan Media Research, which forecasts $2.58 billion in political spot spending in 2018, versus $2.42 billion in 2014. 

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