Green Bay top market in political ads

GREEN BAY - A new national study shows more campaign commercials are being run this week in the Green Bay television market than any other market in the country.

Green Bay leads in the NBC News report, followed by Denver, Cincinnati, Columbus and Madison.

“I guess I'm convinced now more than ever how important Wisconsin is and how important Northeast Wisconsin is,” said Jay Zollar, WLUK-TV’s general manager.

At WLUK-TV, 2010 was a record year of billing for political ads. But this month alone already outpaces eleven months from that record year.

“I have not been a part of the political process where we've seen the volume of commercial advertisements that we've seen this year,” said Zollar.

Univeristy of Wisconsin-Green Bay Communications Chairman Phil Clampitt says the onslaught of ads is likely because the campaigns view area voters as either hesitant, persuadable or both.

“The other part of this is there is a signal that goes on if you pull TV ads out of an area then it looks like you are conceding that area to somebody else and nobody wants to concede our area,” said Clampitt.

In the presidential race, if ad spending is any measure, President Barack Obama is more concerned about Northeast Wisconsin than former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. According to the FCC, in October specific buys, Obama spent $886,820 compared to Romney's $375,631

According to the FCC, Obama spent about 34 percent of his total on WLUK ads, the most in the market (WBAY: 27.2 percent, WFRV: 26.2 percent, and WGBA: 9.9 percent). Romney spread his money out more evenly, but spent the least at WLUK, about 23.6 percent, compared to the other three main local TV stations (WBAY: 26.5 percent, WFRV: 25.9 percent, WGBA: 23.8 percent).

“We aren't probably as important as Ohio in terms of what both campaigns are doing, but we're right up there,” said Clampitt.

It means you'll likely see the record TV ad spending in our area right up to Election Day on Nov. 6.