Most of the winners in the big races in this week’s elections bought “an extraordinarly high” number of political ads on radio, according to Media Monitors.
“Since Nov. 1 alone, in the New York City mayoral race, incumbent and billionaire Michael Bloomberg was the second-largest overall buyer of radio ads, having purchased 996; conversely, his opponent, Fernando Ferrer, obtained a paltry 143 ads and lost by a wide margin,” the monitoring firm said.
It believes this is the first such analysis of radio ads.
In New Jersey, John Corzine bought 504 ads while Doug Forrester purchased only 164. Opponents of Proposition 75 in California aired 1,713 ads, while supporters of the proposition, which was backed by the governor but lost, bought 468.
“The exception was the Virginia gubernatorial race, which was perhaps affected by the so-called Bush backlash,” Media Monitors found. “The Republican, Jerry Kilgore, ran 833 ads while his opponent, Democrat Timothy M. Kaine, ran only 705, but Kilgore still came out the loser in a race widely noted for its negative advertising campaigns.”
Winners Bought Radio Ads
Winners Bought Radio Ads