| U.Va. Center for Politics Director Larry J. Sabato is contributing a regular column to Politico Magazine. This week he takes a look at the first batch of campaign ads this cycle. — The Editors |
Remember when someone could publish a book about TV commercials entitled The Best Thing on TV? It wouldn’t sell today in any election year.
With upwards of $2.6 billion estimated to be spent on political TV spots in 2014 — an increase of 10 percent or more from the last midterm election in 2010 — you’d best get ready for the assault on your senses. Only two states have held a primary, and yet federal and gubernatorial candidates have already spent more than $100 million just on television advertising since the start of the fourth quarter in 2014.
Even at this early point in the cycle, political advertising is widespread: Based on records maintained by the Sunlight Foundation, only eight of the nation’s 50 biggest TV markets had no political ad purchases in the first three months of the year.
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