US presidential candidates spend $50m on TV adverts

US presidential candidates have spent some $50 million (Dh183m) and aired more than 100,000 TV ads since the start of the general election campaign in early June, far outpacing the rate of the 2004 campaign, a special report revealed.

The election campaigns seem to be coming to the rescue of national media houses that are witnessing a steep downfall in their revenues as the country is going through recession. Some of the channels, including Disney, had to actually change their policy on accepting election campaign advertisements, after reviewing their financial status during the first half of this year.

Democratic candidate Barack Obama spent $27m between June 4 and July 26, while Republican candidate John McCain spent just over $21m, the University of Wisconsin Advertising Project, which monitors political ad spending, said in its report.

The Republican National Committee aired another 6,005 ads during the same time frame, spending $3.6m, while the Democratic National Committee did not air any presidential election ads, the ad project said.

By comparison, it said, the presidential candidates in 2004 had aired only 77,000 advertisements during the June-to-July period.

Obama aired the largest number of ads – 55,312 – nearly 9,000 more than McCain, who aired 46,453. When the RNC ads are added to McCain's tally, Obama's advertising lead drops to 2,744 ads.

"Obama's fundraising totals allow his campaign to purchase more ads, but to this point we have yet to see that advantage translate into a massive advantage in paid media," Ad Project director Ken Goldstein said.

More than 90 per cent of the ads aired by Obama are positive in nature and do not mention McCain, the Ad Project said. In contrast, about a third of McCain's ads are negative, contrasting the two presidential candidates.

"This campaign is about Barack Obama, not John McCain," Goldstein said, with McCain needing to raise questions about his rival's credibility as a commander-in-chief and Obama trying to reassure people about his readiness to lead.

McCain's advertising effort is focused on four key battlegrounds states – Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin – where he is advertising more heavily than Obama, the ad project said.

So far the two sides have spent $10.3m in Pennsylvania, nearly $6.4m in Ohio, $6m in Michigan and $3m in Wisconsin.

While Obama is advertising heavily in the same four battleground states as McCain, he also is chasing votes in states where Democrats have not fared as well as Republicans in recent elections.

He spent more than $5m in Florida, the state that gave George W Bush the presidency in 2000, while McCain did not air a single ad there between June 3 and July 27, the ad project said.

Obama also is alone in advertising in Republican-leaning states like Georgia, North Carolina, Indiana, Montana and Arkansas, hoping to pull them into the Democratic orbit in the Novermber 4 general election.

The numbers

$21m: The amount spent by McCain on TV ads

90%: Of ads aired by Obama are positive and do not mention McCain, says Ad Project

33%: of ads aired by McCain are negative