Pittsburgh Has Seen More Political TV Ads Than Anywhere Else

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: Bloomberg

November 2, 2024 at 11:31 AM EDT


Pittsburgh viewers tuning into Monday Night Football this week watched their Steelers beat the New York Giants — and 26 political ads. That’s just a small slice of the roughly 2,300 political ads the typical Pittsburgh household has seen on television this year, according to AdImpact, more than any other market in the country.

The nonstop political onslaught for viewers, however, means a windfall for the stations. The local ABC affiliate broadcasting Monday’s game charged as much $150,000 for a single 30-second ad, an astronomical sum for the market.

Pittsburgh is the most extreme example of a phenomenon happening in swing states across the country: Campaigns and their allies are buying so many political ads that local businesses — the personal injury lawyers, car dealers and furniture stores that are usually staples of local news commercial breaks — often can’t reserve any airtime even if they could afford the inflated rates. Advertising agencies call it “Admageddon.”

For viewers, local advertisers and even down-ballot candidates who can’t afford the premium rates that national campaigns will pay, the deluge of ads is an oppressive and sometimes unbearable force hanging over the city like the haze from its bygone steel foundries. “The advertising is out of control. Most of them are psycho, super negative, ridiculous ads,” said Elizabeth Renshaw, 69, from the Pittsburgh suburb of Forest Hills last week. “It makes watching TV difficult.”

Read more: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-11-02/us-election-pittsburgh-has-most-political-ads-of-all-tv-markets

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[Inkey]

1. I can vouch for this

The campaign season seems very omnipresent this year here in Pgh.
Cable, daylight, nighttime, radio, TV,
news, phone, texts, and mail.
We are soaking in it !.!

[BumRushDaShow]

3. "We are soaking in it !.!"

You mean yinz "are soaking in it"?

Youse guys can have it. Us Fluffians have our share.

[FakeNoose]

2. I'm in Pittsburgh and I believe it!

I've never seen so many political ads for any election year, and it's not just the major channels either.

[gab13by13]

4. All of Pa.

Every break from watching football there were 10 to 1 Magat campaign ads, or close.

Been like that for months.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

6. Why not owning a TV is a Good Thing.

I never see political ads, unless I bother to watch one someone has posted on line, which I almost never do.

Perhaps that's why I'm not remotely stressed out about this election.

[BumRushDaShow]

7. I haven't had the TV in a couple weeks

but I do a ton of reading and listen to the radio and I have heard the radio ads. It's been about 5 Harris ads + 5 PAC ads (e.g., reproductive rights, youth vote, Future Forward subjects, etc) to every 2, 45 ads (where the latter is mostly PAC ones with maybe 1 or 2 that are actually his campaign's ads).

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

8. Good for you.

Here's why I don't have one:

In 2008, after my marriage of 25 years came to an end, I relocated from Kansas to New Mexico. There were three reasons I didn't get a TV right away. First, if I was going to get a TV, I'd want cable, and (one) I couldn't afford cable, and (two) couldn't afford even a relatively inexpensive TV. Plus, the cable hook-up was just below the living room window, and the light here is very strong and bright. I'd wind up having the blinds closed all the time (as my neighbors did for their TV) and why block all that wonderful light? At the time I figured no TV was temporary, and I'd get one after a few months.

Then I learned I could watch pretty much anything I wanted via the internet. My computer monitor is decent sized, I sit in front of it, doing stuff like this and watching TV shows of various kinds.

And again, the very best thing is no commercials. Well, when I watch things like MSNBC live there are commercials, which I usually break away from to do or watch something else. But for all practical purposes, no commercials.

[BumRushDaShow]

9. I have definitely been doing a lot more streaming too

and that even includes channels like the CSPANs - where interestingly enough, the stream would be maybe 10 seconds ahead of the actual live cable broadcast!

I'm not ready to completely cut the cord yet although I probably should. But then I know that as soon as I did, there might be some movie I've been wanting to see that was suddenly made available, and I would miss out.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

12. I honestly think that the only thing you

might need regular TV/cable for is sports. I don't happen to care much for sports. I have a favorite football team, whose QB is clearly the Greatest of All Time, but I also don't have the patience to spend four hours watching a one hour game, so a couple of hours after the game ends I simply watch the highlights of the game. Works for me.

[BumRushDaShow]

13. I grew up with a mother who was from the radio generation

(she would have been 94 this year) and she would listen to baseball on the radio, although she would break down and watch the World Series on TV.

I have been a long time radio listener too and have listened to sports on the radio. When you have a good color analyst, you don't even need "the visual".

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

14. So true.

A while back, as in several decades ago, I got into the habit of listening to some kind of games on the radio. I think it might have been college football? Can't remember for sure, but you are absolutely correct about having a good color analyst.

[Dulcinea]

10. Atlanta must run a close second.

We're inundated with political ads here. I can't wait for this to be over.

[AZLD4Candidate]

11. i think we in yinzer land are getting sick of it tbh. Harris' are all hope. Republicans are all hatemongering.

[Deminpenn]

15. And we're tired of them

nt

[twodogsbarking]

16. I miss the people with Type 2 diabetes dancing like they are on LSD.