For most of 2010, we’ve been counseling our political clients to invest a minimum of 10%-12% of their total ad budget on political advertising.
It appears, according to this MediaPost piece, that this political ad rule of thumb is set to rise:
This year’s political ad spending could be up between 5% and 10% from 2008 levels, spurred by the Supreme Court’s recent favorable ruling on corporate political spending. Although as much as 75% of political ad dollars are spent on local TV, more of it in the future will be diffused to online, mobile and other new media.
The slow, secular shift away from measured media to marketing services, TV’s gradual disintermediation by Internet-connected media, and the movement toward more a la carte, on-demand video are among the wild cards. All will play havoc with once predictable advertiser spending, even in election years, analysts say.
This shift tracks with the poll results we’re seeing that show media consumption among voters is increasingly fragmented.
While broadcast is still king — its rein is much more tenuous than it was even a year or two ago. Voters are increasingly getting their news online, and our ability to hyper-target these voters makes online advertising an increasingly wise and effective investment.