Decision 2014: A closer look at the data

In Louisiana, a likely Senate runoff means spots are booked on Saints games throughout November. Photo by: GETTY IMAGES

■ Oct. 12 was the single biggest day of the election season through Oct. 22 for the political buyers. On that day, 174 ads aired in our 23 battleground markets, generating $1.68 million. NBC’s “Sunday Night Football,” with a New York Giants-Philadelphia Eagles matchup, generated $181,450, the biggest single revenue generator of the day. The Republican Party of Florida spent $156,000 promoting its candidates throughout the day on sports programming in Jacksonville, Miami, Orlando and Tampa Bay.

■ Comparing ads that aired during college broadcasts, Notre Dame led the way, with 46 spots (totaling $163,000) being purchased during Fighting Irish football games this fall. Florida State was the top draw on the spending side, with ads worth $203,400 (for 25 total ads) airing during Seminoles games. When it comes to the biggest single game for purchasing, though, Notre Dame-Florida State on Oct. 18 didn’t get the No. 1 slot. That distinction goes to the annual Florida-Georgia game in Jacksonville, slated for this past Saturday. Purchases of ads to air during that game generated more than $132,000 for CBS affiliates, primarily in the Southeast. (The Notre Dame-Florida State game, by way of comparison: $61,100 in ad time purchased.)

■ The National Rifle Association aired 75 ads for a total of $390,180 in Raleigh (36 spots), Green Bay (21) and Minneapolis (18). More than half those spots appeared during college football games. Ending Spending, a conservative PAC founded by Joe Ricketts (whose family owns the Chicago Cubs), spent $61,500 during sports, airing a total of nine ads in Denver and Kansas City. Those buys included one ad each (at $12,000 a spot) in Games 6 and 7 of the World Series broadcasts on Fox’s KDVR affiliate in Denver.

■ In the Boston market, 72 percent of the political ads came via the U.S. Senate race in New Hampshire, where Republican challenger Scott Brown and Democratic incumbent Jeanne Shaheen are battling. The remaining spots touted Massachusetts’ gubernatorial candidates. New Hampshire, of course, does not have a big league team of its own, but the state’s Manchester-Nashua metropolitan area is home to nearly one-third of the Granite State’s population and makes up the northern border of the designated Boston media market. Ohio saw an even larger out-of-state influence, as 88 percent of the political spending in that state came from ads related to the U.S. Senate race in Kentucky, between Republican incumbent Mitch McConnell and Democratic challenger Alison Grimes.

■ The state of Louisiana is already preparing for a runoff in its senatorial race. Many in the political realm believe that neither Democratic incumbent Mary Landrieu nor Republican challenger Bill Cassidy will receive the required 50 percent of the votes needed to win the seat on Election Day, thus setting up a Dec. 6 runoff. That anticipation helps explain this find in the research: Alexandria, Va.-based National Media Research, Planning and Placement, the media buyer for the National Republican Senatorial Committee, has already ordered spots to run during New Orleans Saints games throughout November, worth a total of $76,440.