NEW YORK — For TV viewers, this cutthroat election year is a riot of attack ads and media saturation made possible by big-money donors. For TV stations, it’s a stimulus package.
The windfall might continue well past Election Day because regular advertisers are getting squeezed out of the schedule and could spend their ad budgets later.
Coming out of a recession that put some broadcasters in or near bankruptcy protection, political spending is emerging as a critical source of revenue.
The Campaign Media Analysis Group, a unit of the consulting firm Kantar Media, projects that spending on political television ads will hit $3 billion this year. Not only would that top a record $2.4 billion spent during the last midterm elections in 2006, but it would also surpass the $2.7 billion spent in 2008, when both congressional and presidential campaigns poured cash into TV ads.
The Associated Press
