Hate political ads? Skip morning shows
If you hate political advertisements, some advice: Give Matt Lauer, Robin Roberts and Charlie Rose the boot.
The nation's marquee network morning shows — "Good Morning America," "Today" and "CBS This Morning" — attracted more U.S. Senate race-focused ads during the 2014 midterm elections than any other television programs, according to a Center for Public Integrity analysis of data provided by tracking firm Kantar Media/CMAG.
The weekday version of ABC's "Good Morning America" led all comers, with nearly 30,000 U.S. Senate-focused ads during the 2014 election cycle. "Today" and "CBS This Morning" played host to about 27,000 and 25,000 ads respectively.
Republican candidates and political parties, super PACs and nonprofit groups supporting their races aired slightly more ads than their Democratic counterparts for each show.
"The hard truth remains that people wake up in the morning and turn on their televisions — and political groups know this," said Elizabeth Wilner, senior vice president for politics at Kantar Media Intelligence. "Years from now, if television advertising becomes less important to politics, the morning shows will be the last place where you will still find political ads."
Such an age is hardly imminent. In all, political candidates and groups aired more than 1 million U.S. Senate race-focused TV ads alone ahead of the 2014 midterms, as Republicans this month seized control of Congress' upper chamber.
Among non-news programming, game shows "Wheel of Fortune" (about 20,000) and "Jeopardy!" (about 18,000) and sitcom "Big Bang Theory" (more than 14,500) attracted the most U.S. Senate-specific ads.
Other shows that aired at least 11,000 U.S. Senate-focused ads during their time slots include "Live! with Kelly and Michael," "The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon," "Dr. Phil," "The Ellen DeGeneres Show," "The Late Show with David Letterman" and "Family Feud."
There’s more to this story. Click here to read the rest at the Center for Public Integrity.
This story is part of Primary Source. Primary Source keeps you up-to-date on developments in the post-Citizens United world of money in politics. Click here to read more stories in this blog.
Related stories
As FEMA funds run out, senators from states with most disasters oppose funding bill
Vote set for quixotic bill that would reveal attack ad funders
Copyright 2014 The Center for Public Integrity. This story was published by The Center for Public Integrity, a nonprofit, nonpartisan investigative news organization in Washington, D.C.
