Tab for Chicago Political Ads Hits $5 million
Three stations bill over $1 million each

The pundits were predicting a boring election season in Illinois. Given Al Gore’s 13-point margin of victory in 2000 and the Jack Ryan/Alan Keyes implosion, many expected the election to be a sleeper. But don’t fret for the TV stations. Despite an election with few surprises, candidates still ponied up over $5 million for political ads in the fall campaign on Chicago stations, running over 2,000 30-second spots during October and November.

ICPR analyzed the ad contracts between candidates, interest groups, and TV stations to determine where the ads went, and how the money flowed. TV stations are required by the Federal Communications Commission to make these contracts available to the public.

The following tables summarize the number and monetary value of ads run on 8 TV stations in the Chicago media market, and which candidates raised the cash to run those ads.

TV Station Billings*
Station	Network	Total Billing
WLS-7	ABC	$1,743,550
WMAQ-5	NBC	$1,704,290
WBBM-2	CBS	$1,038,681
WFLD-32	FOX	$370,750
WGN-9	UPN	$267,200
Others		$131,280
Total		$5,255,751
*Includes commssions paid back to the ad agency or buyer.

Groups Running Ads
Top Spending Candidates	Obama for Senate	$978,425
	Bean for Congress	$515,975
	Crane for Congress	$501,230
	Welch for State Senate	$311,035
	Ouimet for State Senate	$278,645
Top Spending Non-Candidates	NRCC	$919,730
	DCCC	$490,160
	United Seniors	$450,770
	League of Conservative Voters	$321,481
	All Others	$488,300
	Total	$5,255,752

TV Station Ad Totals
Station	Network	Total Ads
WLS-7	ABC	753
WMAQ-5	NBC	626
WBBM-2	CBS	542
WFLD-32	FOX	321
WGN-9	UPN	159
Others		151
Total		2,552

Groups Running Ads
Top Spending Candidates	Obama for Senate	456
	Bean for Congress	311
	Crane for Congress	234
	Welch for State Senate	189
	Ouimet for State Senate	179
Top Spending Non-Candidates	NRCC	338
	DCCC	268
	United Seniors	202
	League of Conservative Voters	141
	All Others	234
	Total	2,552

While the average cost of a 30-second spot was about $2,000, the actual cost varied dramatically. Even in the final days before the election, ad space could be bought for as little as $25 (if the ad ran between 1am and 5 am during the weekend) to as much as $40,000 (if the ad ran during CSI: Miami the night before Election Day). Several factors affected how much an ad cost:

• Candidates qualified for the “lowest unit cost”, a preferential billing reserved for political candidates. Parties and other interest groups do not qualify for the lowest unit cost. But there are drawbacks to paying the lowest rate: these ads can be pre-empted if another advertiser is willing to pay more. For this reason, and especially down the stretch, candidates often pay more than the lowest unit cost.
  
• Ad rates hinge on viewership. Not all stations, and not all programs on a station, are equal. WLS, the station with the most ads and the most ad revenue, also charged the most for time on their station. Their rates varied from a low of $25 to a high of $25,000, for ads run on the same day: the Sunday before the Election. $25 got a spot during the 1941 film Footlight Fever, which aired before sunup; $25,000 got time during the Sunday Night Football game.

Note: Some of the contracts reflect agreements to broadcast ads, but if the ads were later bumped, or “pre-empted” by higher-paying advertisers, then the ad did not air, and the candidate was not billed. In some instances, we were able to determine which ads were, apparently, pre-empted; these ads and their related billings were deleted from our counts.