Political TV Advertising Is Forecast to Fall

Kantar Media/CMAG, a top ad-tracking agency, is forecasting that political spending on local broadcast television in 2016 will reach $2.8 billion—about $300 million less than what was spent in 2012, and $500 million less than the agency’s initial estimate for 2016, reports The Wall Street Journal.

The reason: Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump hasn’t embraced ads in the way political candidates typically have in the past.

“It’s hard to grow when one party stays off TV for so long at the top of the ticket,” Steve Passwaiter, vice president of Kantar’s political ad monitoring unit, said in an interview.

Trump has aired far fewer TV ads than his rival, Democrat Hillary Clinton, and his predecessor, 2012 GOP nominee Mitt Romney. The New York businessman didn’t begin airing ads in the general election until mid-August, while Mrs. Clinton was on the air all summer. Last month, Mr. Trump spent $5 million on ads, compared with Mrs. Clinton’s $32 million.

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