Critics outspend supporters by more than 3:1, little overlap between targeted audiences
WASHINGTON, DC, March 22, 2012 – Friends and foes of President Barack Obama’s healthcare law—but mainly foes, by a ratio of more than 3:1—have spent a combined $262 million on TV advertisements promoting and criticizing the law since its enactment two years ago, according to an analysis by Kantar Media’s Campaign Media Analysis Group (CMAG). The two sides have been advertising to largely different audiences: opponents have advertised primarily in swing-state markets, while supporters have devoted the majority of their spending to national broadcast, national cable, and markets in California.
Kantar Media’s CMAG calculates that since President Obama signed the healthcare law on March 23, 2010, critics of the law have outspent supporters $204,038,930 to $57,902,790. Four hundred ten advertisers have aired 1,018 individual creatives mentioning the plan in a negative way; 48 advertisers have aired 90 creatives mentioning the plan in a positive way. The highest-spending proponent of the law by far, accounting for 65 percent of all pro-law ad spending, has been the US Department of Health and Human Services.
Since July 1, 2011, more than $39 million has been spent on ads about the law—with opponents outspending supporters by more than 2:1, or $27,064,180 to $12,046,850. One hundred sixty-four individual creatives have aired since July 1, by CMAG’s count—148 criticizing the law and 16 supporting it.
“At least at this point in the story of the healthcare law, just ahead of the US Supreme Court arguments next week, one side has made a much bigger investment toward winning the argument with voters,” said Elizabeth Wilner, vice president of Kantar Media’s CMAG. “For the law’s supporters, closing the gap in advertising would require not just more spending and different targeting, but the sudden boost of a Court victory.”
Kantar Media CMAG found little overlap between the two sides in terms of where the advertising activity has taken place. Only voters in the Philadelphia and Las Vegas media markets have seen intense ad spending both for and against the law—and even in those markets, spending has tilted heavily against. Opponents spent their largest share in markets covering potential presidential swing states, including two markets based in Pennsylvania and two in Florida, plus markets in Colorado, Arizona, Georgia, Nevada and Ohio.
Supporters of the law, by contrast, spent their largest share on national network and cable ads. Five of their top 10 markets are based in California. The others range from the aforementioned Philadelphia and Las Vegas to Seattle, Milwaukee and Little Rock.
The difference in ad placement reflects the differing strategies of the advertisers. The 410 individual advertisers against the law over the past two years have ranged from the country’s best-resourced conservative and GOP groups, who seek to affect the outcome of elections from the presidency on down the ballot, to individual Republican candidates for various offices in 2010 and 2012. These candidates are running in competitive regions of the country and seeking to leverage voter disapproval of the law.
Meanwhile, two-thirds of all ad spending in support of the healthcare law has been committed by a single advertiser: the US Department of Health and Human Services, pursuing its mission to inform its neediest audiences about the benefits of the law. Just a few dozen individual congressional candidates also have advertised their support. By design, most of these candidates are running in heavily Democratic areas where voters tend to approve of the law.
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Kantar Media provides strategic advice and competitive intelligence to the world’s leading brands, publishers, agencies and industry bodies, helping them navigate and succeed in a rapidly evolving media industry. This includes analysis of paid media opportunities; counsel on brand reputation, corporate management and consumer engagement through owned media; and, evaluating consumers’ reactions in earned media. Kantar Media provides clients with a broad range of insights from audience research, competitive intelligence, vital consumer behavior and digital insights, to marketing effectiveness and online influence. Our experts currently work with 22,000 companies tracking 3 million brands in 50 countries. www.KantarMediaNA.com