For local and regional advertisers, political advertising presents a number of challenges. Political candidates are well funded, determined and aided by a number of FCC rules and policies. These rules provide political advertisers with guaranteed space and time on media outlets at the lowest rates possible, resulting in the potential preemption of regular commercial advertisers’ media schedules.

This year, the media landscape will be inundated with political advertising due to changes in legislation and the high number of elections occurring across the country. Analysts have estimated overall political advertising spending for 2012 will be at record levels, projecting figures as high as $4.9 billion with an estimated $3.2 billion of that placed on broadcast television. This estimate represents a 17 percent increase over the 2008 election year advertising spending.

There is no way to completely avoid political advertising and its negative impact on the efforts of regular commercial advertisers, but that doesn’t mean media buyers placing non-political advertising can just give up.

Do your homework

Media teams can plan intelligently, keep abreast of current market conditions and place media schedules as far in advance as possible. Added value, such as bonus weight, which has become a standard inclusion in television media buys, must be forgiven during political seasons and forgotten during political windows (the 45 days before primaries and the 60 days before a general election). Many stations simply refuse to run bonus weight during political windows. If stations allow bonus for regular commercial clients, stations would have to allow the same bonus for all political clients. Any unsold or remnant inventory that stations might have is generally reserved for replacing preempted spots.

Evaluate allocation of dayparts

Media planners can consider changes in television daypart mixes to avoid competing with political advertisers for space and time. Less emphasis on News dayparts, especially Late News would be a smart choice to avoid political competition and likely preemptions. A daypart like Primetime—a highly desirable daypart for commercial clients—is still a viable option. However, when planning for budgets, the cost per points given must take the glut of political advertising into consideration. In most markets, the CPPs will rise between 5 percent to 30 percent, depending on how inundated the market is with political dollars. Clients can expect to pay more for their advertising schedules during political windows.

Consider changing the media mix

Finally, considerations to changes in media mix during political windows can aid in running cleaner media schedules. As broadcast television is the most heavily impacted medium, clients may consider running more advertising on cable (foregoing news networks), radio (music formats in lieu of news/talk), online and print. The smartest thing commercial advertisers can do during this high spending political year is to be prepared. Broadcast television, especially News dayparts and Primetime, will be priced at a premium, political windows will produce a drop in available inventory and added value will not be an option or will be extremely limited.

By taking all of this into consideration and working in tandem with the media team, commercial clients will still be able to create strategic media plans and effective advertising campaigns, despite the onslaught of political advertising. The key is to plan realistically—maintain open, honest relationships with media partners and perform regular maintenance on media buys to ensure they maintain the integrity and level of impressions they are intended to deliver.