McCain makes $6M Olympic Ad Buy

[Kittycat]

McCain makes a last-minute purchase of $6 million in Olympics ad time, topping Obama’s $5 million buy.

http://thepage.time.com/
http://adage.com/campaigntrail/post?article_id=130119

WASHINGTON (AdAge.com) -- Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign is buying into NBC Universal's Olympics coverage.

The McCain campaign made a last-minute $6 million ad buy, which tops the $5 million Sen. Barack Obama's campaign announced last month it was buying during the Olympic Games, which begin Aug. 8.

Like the Obama team's ad buy, the McCain campaign's purchase includes network and cable spots. NBC Universal is airing 3,600 hours of Olympics coverage on its broadcast network and cable networks including NBC, CNBC, MSNBC, USA Network, Oxygen and Telemundo.

---snip

"Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery," said Evan Tracey, chief operating officer of the Campaign Media Analysis Group at TNS Media Intelligence. "For the same reason the idea was good for Barack, it is good for McCain: It's high traffic for eyeballs in a normally low-traffic time of year."

Mr. Tracey speculated that the McCain campaign, which is accepting federal funds for the general campaign, made the last-minute buy to use up money it raised for the primary season. That money can't be spent after the Republican National Convention, which is being held the first week in September.

[book_worm]

1. Oh Noes! he has us beat on the Olympics by a cool million. Will he have anything left over for the

fall?

[Kittycat]

3. ..

:rofl:

[Phx_Dem]

6. That's what I was thinking.

He spent alot of money on the Paris-Britney and Moses ads that are ALL about Obama. Not one word about McCain. Usually when a campaign (as opposed to outside group) puts out a negative ad, the beginning of the ad is negative toward the opponent and the last part of the ad is positive toward the candidate. Leaving viewers with a positive image of the candidate as the last thing they see.

I'm no ad expert, but I think common sense dictates that the CAMPAIGN should ALWAYS include a positive message about their candidate. They should leave the fully negative ads to the outside groups -- also, I wouldn't think you would want the candidate's voice on the ad saying "I'm John McCain and I approve this really shitty message." It seems like it would be much better coming from an outside group.

What this tells me (hopefully) is that McCain could run short of money in the fall when he will need it to run ads reinforcing his "positive" message. The outside groups will likely focus their attention on nasty ads about Obama. So who will be talking about McCain? Obama will; in a negative way. Hopefully, VERY NEGATIVE.


(Mrs Phx_Dem)

[musicblind]

10. Sadly yes, because this is all primary money. He can't use this money in the fall

:(

[Renew Deal]

2. McCain is obsessed with attempting to top Obama.

It's almost strange. When Obama said we should put 2 brigades in Afghanistan, McCain said 3. Now this. It's pathetic.

[FrenchieCat]

8. That's the Jan Brady effect!

McCain cries, " He's more popular than me, everyone wants to be around him.
Why is it always MARSHA, MARSHA, MARSHA!"

[Hamlette]

4. damn, there was a great analysis of why Obama buying time at Olympics was great

one of the reasons was he could define himself and McCain couldn't counterpunch.

fivethirtyeight.com

(great site. you should read it every day.)

[Frances]

5. Didn't Obama get a discount for buying early

In other words, will Obama's 5 million buy as much time as McCain's 6 million?

[nsd]

7. How much does $6 m actually buy?

I would think airtime during the Olympics is super-expensive. Maybe $500 K for 30 sec? (I'm just guessing here.)

[musicblind]

11. Obama should buy 7 million. He has the money

and the more he spends the more he forces McCain to spend to catch up.

[KittyWampus]

9. If Obama's people are smart, they'll go for an amusing "Superbowl" style ad

People want to be entertained and if some information slips by in the process, all the better.

[musicblind]

12. kick. important information

:kick: