Report: Politicians Liking Radio's Cost Effectiveness

Television advertising is still king, both in terms of total spending and number of times that ads run, of course, and will continue to eat up the bulk of campaign budgets. But, according to a NY Times story, if radio spending is still minuscule by comparison, that is partly because it is so inexpensive.

A campaign wanting to reach voters in the Des Moines market with an effective ad purchase would have to spend about $85,000 on television, said Mike Schreurs, the chief executive of Strategic America, a marketing and advertising firm based in Iowa. To reach the voters to the same degree would cost only $48,000 on radio.

Side by side, the contrast is even starker: A 60-second campaign ad during the 6 p.m. newscast of KTIV, the NBC affiliate in Sioux City, in mid-November cost about $900, according to the station’s public file. A minute-long ad at the same time on KSCJ, the conservative talk-radio station there, went for as little as $20, according to the station’s owner.

Production costs are just as lopsided.

Kellyanne Conway

Few would dispute radio’s cost-effectiveness, but it holds particular weight for Republicans, thanks to the huge and devoted followings of conservative talk-radio hosts like Rush Limbaugh, Mark Levin and Laura Ingraham.

“Talk radio provides a captive audience that is less inclined to futz with the dial in between commercials,” explained Kellyanne Conway, a Republican pollster who is running Keep the Promise I, the super PAC backing Mr. Cruz. Radio advertising, she added, was “a little more insidious” than television commercials “and it’s tougher to ignore.”

With that in mind, major radio companies are stepping up their efforts to help politicians reach the voters they are courting — and to capture more of their advertising spending. Nielsen Media and Experian Marketing Services have teamed up in the top 48 radio markets, for example, to help radio companies show advertisers how to target listeners according to party affiliation, likelihood to vote and more.

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