Presidential Campaign to Add $1.6B to Station Revenue

Political advertising during the upcoming presidential-campaign year will push national spot advertising up 17% over 2003 and pump $1.6 billion into local TV stations, media analyst Tom Wolzien predicts in his latest report.

CBS-owned stations will reap the biggest total take, with an estimated $100 million in political advertising. On a per-station basis ABC O&Os will enjoy a windfall nearly twice as large. But with far fewer owned-stations, the ads are expected to add only $90 million to the bottom line of ABC parent Disney.

Television advertising overall is expected to climb 9.1% after estimated 4% growth in 2003, the Sanford Bernstein analyst predicted. Subtracting campaign spending, TV ads would be up 6.4%.