Political Campaign Media Spend to Reach All-Time High of $4.5 Billion in ‘08

Political campaign spending on advertising media and marketing services is expected to rocket to an all-time high of $4.5 billion in the 2008 election cycle, driven by an acrimonious political environment, record fundraising and the high number of presidential candidates, writes MarketingCharts, citing a preliminary forecast by PQ Media.

Total political media spend in the 2008 election cycle, including all nine advertising and marketing communications segments used for this purpose, is expected to be 43.3 percent more than in the 2006 cycle and is projected to soar 64.1 percent over the 2004 election, the previous presidential campaign year.

The forecast is according to PQ Media’s “Political Media Buying 2008: Preliminary Forecast Analysis.”

Among the findings of the report:

• Advertising media, including broadcast and cable TV, radio, newspapers, internet, out-of-home media and mobile & magazines, is projected to reach $3.03 billion, and account for 67.2 percent of all political media spending in the 2008 election cycle.
• Meanwhile, spending on political marketing services, including direct mail, public relations, and promotions & event marketing, will reach $1.48 billion and account for the remaining 32.8 percent.
• Marketing will continue to gain share from advertising due to more sophisticated databases that allow direct mail strategies to be targeted to specific regions in battleground states, of which there will be more than usual in 2008.
• Several advertising and marketing segments, such as cable TV and direct mail, will exhibit significant gains due to critical television station inventory trends, particularly in New Mexico, Pennsylvania and Florida.

MarketingCharts has more data, including campaign spend figures by media type (e.g., internet advertising) and campaign type (e.g., presidential, senate).