Harris-Walz TV Ads: Prime Time A Big Piece Of The Puzzle

Traditional prime-time programming advertising buys -- around $170 million -- will be playing a big part in the Kamala Harris-Tim Walz campaign for President and Vice President for the next two months leading into the elections, according to reports.

A memo from the campaign, according to The Hollywood Reporter, said TV advertising will come “during high-viewership moments, including high-trafficked prime-time programming like “Wheel of Fortune,” “Jeopardy,” “Abbott Elementary,” “Grey’s Anatomy” and “Survivor” as well as sporting events like college and NFL football games, WNBA and NBA games, NHL games, and MLB games.”

The $170 million traditional TV effort is part of a bigger $370 million buy for the two-month period before the Presidential election -- September 4 through November 5.

In addition, the Harris-Walz campaign plans to spend $200 million on digital media -- including streaming services, connected TV, podcasts and audio platforms.

The memo says it will expand a media effort to include a broader range of TV news networks including Fox News Channel, during its daytime programming -- this an effort to reach a “more moderate audience." 

Fox News Channel is generally perceived as a network that caters to more politically conservative viewers.

Much of this comes with what is said to be an overall record political TV ad-spending season with some $10 billion overall and around $5 billion to $6 billion going to TV and a majority of TV spend going to local TV stations.

But it was not revealed what specific local TV spending will occur in major swing states -- Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Georgia and Nevada.

A new poll, by Focaldata for Semafor, shows Harris leading former President Trump in three of seven competitive states: Michigan (51% to 44%), Wisconsin (50% to 44%) and Nevada (48% to 44%).

The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.7% to 3.8%.

Major spending in those states will be key where voter margins have been very narrow. Estimates are that anywhere from 80,000 to 100,000 voters essentially decided the last two Presidential races.

While much of the campaign’s traditional TV effort looks to find those swing, so-called independent voters in those states, it appears to be seeking the broadest type of voters/TV viewers, perhaps leaning more to older political voters.

Early projections are that Harris has made major strides already to not just women voters but especially young voters.