Political ads crunch possible TV time

A flurry of political commercials has put the Harrisburg-area media market in the top 10 markets for presidential campaign ads in the run-up to election day, according to a report tracking national political advertising. Amid the advertising crunch, some advertisers said they are having a tough time

"The candidates have used a huge amount of television, driving up prices, and there's just a certain amount of inventory," said Teresa Roda, president of Roda and Company, an advertising firm in Lancaster County.

Roda said her firm, based in Manheim Township, has had a hard time scheduling commercials since summer. Competition for other media such as radio and outdoor ads also has increased because of the difficulty getting television time, she said.

Groups supporting the Democratic and Republican presidential candidates came to Pennsylvania early and often. They are competing for the votes of a population that has been divided nearly evenly in the polls.

Between Sept. 24 and Oct. 7, the Harrisburg-area television market came in tenth among the most popular advertising markets for campaigns and groups seeking to sway the presidential vote, according to a survey by Nielsen Monitor-Plus and The University of Wisconsin Advertising Project.

Nielsen Monitor-Plus is a division of Nielsen Media Research that monitors advertising. The University of Wisconsin Advertising Project studies political advertisements and their content,

The organizations analyzed political television advertising in 210 media markets across the United States. Their report, released Oct. 12, listed the television markets where President George W. Bush, U.S. Sen. John Kerry and their supporters had run the most campaign ads.

Teresa Roda's brother, Paul Roda, is the national sales manager at WHTM-TV, the ABC affiliate in Harrisburg. The station is running plenty of political advertisements, and nearly all of them have been for the presidential election. Exact numbers are hard to measure because they change from one week to another, Paul Roda said.

The blitz started before the primary season was over. The Bush campaign scheduled its first commercials in early March and the Kerry campaign started in midMarch, he said.

"Our primary was a nonfactor," Paul Roda said, speaking of the state's Democratic primary election, which came long after the party's winning candidate was selected. "The indication when Kerry came on was that it was just going to continue."

Recent news reports have said the Bush campaign is reducing its ad buys at some television stations in the eastern and middle portions of Pennsylvania, but Paul Roda said that has not been the case for WHTM. He just received another order for commercial time from the Bush campaign, along with what he called "a sizable order" from the Republican National Committee.

The total amount of political advertising on the air in Central Pennsylvania is about even with that of the 2000 election, television station representatives said. The 2000 Bush-Gore presidential race in Pennsylvania also was close.

Even so, station representatives said the amount of advertising in the 2002 elections eclipsed that of the 2000 and 2004 presidential races. In 2002, two tight Pennsylvania races led to sharply escalated campaign spending. One of those races was the gubernatorial contest between Ed Rendell and Mike Fisher. The other was between Tim Holden and George Gekas. The two incumbents in the

U.S. House of Representatives were pitted against each other when their districts merged to become the state's 17th Congressional District.

Karyn Macy, media buyer at Macy Advertising Inc. in Lancaster County, said she thinks advertising on television before the 2004 campaign has been much harder than it was in 2000. About 5 percent to 10 percent of the commercials she places have been preempted by political ads, Macy said. She has worked at the firm, based in East Lampeter Township, for nine years.

When commercial time is available, it is between about 25 percent to 100 percent more expensive than the usual rates, she said.

Advertisers and station managers declined to name an average cost for commercial spots during nonelection seasons, but Paul Roda said the cost of a 30second commercial can range from hundreds of dollars for a daytime Spot to thousands for prime time.

Costs vary with demand, going up when schedules fill up. Advertisers can try to guarantee their commercials will run by paying higher rates for a lower chance of being pre-empted. Macy compared the system to airline ticketing, where plane fares vary among passengers and flights can be oversold.

Federal rules require television stations to sell advertising time to political candidates at the lowest rate a customer has negotiated for a commercial in the same time slot and under similar terms. A station can pull a commercial bought for a lower rate from a time slot that is overfilled.

Macy said the presidential election ads have kept her clients, which include local retailers, from attracting their usual audience to seasonal events such as Columbus Day sales. Commercials can be rescheduled, but sometimes they are time-sensitive, she said.

"It's really unfair," Macy said. "If you've negotiated a good deal and you've got a low price for a spot, you're penalized. They can get your spot at your rate and you get bumped out."

Station managers said advertisers could get around the election squeeze by planning ahead during election years. They can purchase commercial time months in advance at prices that make pre-emption less likely, or they can avoid the election season altogether.

Harrisburg International Airport is waiting. The airport is putting off its advertising until after the election, said Fred Testa, director of aviation at the Susquehanna Area Regional Airport Authority, which owns and operates HIA.

Those willing to pay a high price may still be able to get their ads on the air before Election Day.

Station representatives are not eager to air wall-to-wall political ads, even in the most sought-after time periods. Campaigns concentrate their spending during nightly newscasts and syndicated programs such as "Wheel of Fortune" because those shows draw older viewers, whom they consider more likely to vote.

"We limit the amount of spots they can purchase in any time slot," said Matt Uhl, vice president and general manager of WHP-CBS 21, a television station affiliated with the CBS network. "We always do. Otherwise we'll look like we have nothing but political ads."