According to a new survey, 88% of Americans disapprove of negative political advertising, and about a third will change the channel rather than watch one.
The survey was commissioned by MGH and performed by Equation Research. It found that 32% will channel away from a political ad or even from political news coverage, and 47% will either change the channel or mute the television when negative ads are being aired.
The survey also found that 20% watch online and 19% used recording devices to avoid television advertising.
“This year’s election is gearing up to be a tight race, and with tens of millions of advertising dollars being put toward mudslinging political television ads, marketers need to pay attention to some of these statistics to make sure that their consumers aren’t changing the channel on their clients,” said MGH President Andy Malis. “During election years, television advertising space is limited and more expensive, so advertisers need to get creative and integrated with their media campaigns to ensure their message is getting through the clutter.”
MGH noted a report stating that about $50M is going to be spent on political advertising in the next few weeks, despite the fact that the election is still months away.
RBR-TVBR observation: This is an example of the double-edged sword that is the political category — it brings in money, and that’s good. But sometimes it does so in the form of chasing a regular customer off the airwaves, making it replacement cash, not found cash. And if it is cluttering up your programming and even chasing people away, it is also not good. Political giveth, but it also taketh away.
