MediaWeek: Study: Political Spending More Than $1.4 Bil. in '04

A TNS Media Intelligence/CMR study showed that about $1.4 billion was spent on political ads in 2004, leading up to last night's see-sawing presidential results that remain this morning somewhat uncertain. Almost nine out of ten of those dollars went to spot television. More than half of the remainder went to local radio. After newspaper and cable, finally came Internet, with CMR finding that only a little more than $7 million was spent on the Internet in 2004.

The study inspired a hand-wringing MediaPost piece decrying political marketers as luddites, but the $7 million figure is likely too low to believe. Campaign managers have indeed used the internet far more in non-paid methods, like PR blogs and fundraising efforts, but the oddly low number may be more likely evidence of internet undercounting in the CMR methodology. Perhaps the IAB and OPA should send their legal "Swat Teams."