WASHINGTON (AdAge.com) -- It's official. Sen. Barack Obama's campaign will be among the TV sponsors of NBC Universal's Olympics coverage. In the first significant network-TV buy of any presidential candidate in at least 16 years, the Obama campaign has taken a $5 million package of Olympics spots that includes network TV as well as cable ads.
According to NBC's political file, the campaign had initially requested information about 500,000, $2 million and $4 million package of Olympics spots. The network also offered the candidate a $10 million package.
NBC Universal is airing 3,600 hours of Olympics coverage on its broadcast network and cable networks including NBC, CNBC, MSNBC, USA Network, Oxygen and Telemundo, and while some of the Obama campaign's spots will air on network TV, the breakdown of how many or exactly when they will air was not immediately available. It did encompass most dayparts.
The Obama campaign did not return several calls and messages seeking comment on the reasoning behind the buy.
AdAge reports that the last time a presidential candidate purchased a network TV spot was a single multi-minute ad by Bob Dole in 1996. Presidential candidates usually purchase television advertising to target battleground states, and have been turing to cheaper cable ads over ads broadcasting on a national scope.
NBC's 2004 Olympics coverage in Athens, Greece, was viewed by an average 24.6 million viewers. This is why Obama is spending $5 million in advertising during the Olympics--he can present his own vision and message on a nationwide scale to a major segment of American viewers. This is huge.
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