Milwaukee: Flat
rates and lots of inventory
The primary is two weeks off yet political ads are not clogging airwaves
By Diego Vasquez
Feb 6, 2012
Milwaukee is a healthy market in the midst of a lowest-unit-rate political window leading into Wisconsin's Feb. 21 state primary.
Yet unlike many other markets with upcoming primaries, Milwaukee television is not clogged with political ads. Buyers say they can get their clients on the air without too much difficulty.
That's because this month's primary includes only a few uncontested local races--the presidential primary isn't until April 3. Stations say inventory is at normal levels with little political action.
Last year, TV spending in Milwaukee was up slightly versus the year before, and political spending will help drive another strong year, yet demand isn't high enough to affect unit pricing right now.
"I did a quick compare of rates [to this time last year] and I'm not really seeing any increase right now," says Ann Caskey, senior local buying strategist at Empower MediaMarketing. "But spending should be up since it's a political year."
Conditions are a bit tighter for high-demand news inventory, especially the market's top two news stations, WISN (ABC) and WTMJ (NBC).
The rest of the TV landscape is healthy but not sold out, with spending increases from a number of categories including auto, furniture stores and healthcare.
While political spending in most markets plummets after a primary, there's a good chance political spending in Milwaukee will continue after Feb. 21. Presidential money could hit the market if the Republican race is still being contested.
Also, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, a Republican, is facing a likely recall election by Democrats unhappy with his decision to end collective bargaining rights for most of the state's public workers.
If a recall election proceeds--which at the moment seems likely--it's expected it will take place in late April or early June, meaning political spending by his supporters and opponents will be heavy in second quarter.
On radio, Milwaukee's news-talk station WTMJ-AM is tops in the market and experiencing higher-than-usual demand because it's an election year.
That will to lead to trickle-down spending for the music stations in the market when non-political advertisers get crowded out of WTMJ.
WTMJ is pretty dominant. In December the station averaged a 9.4 average-quarter-hour rating among total listeners, according to Arbitron, well ahead of the 7.9 the market's No. 2 station averaged.
The station is in big demand for two reasons. It's getting political dollars because of the news-talk format, but it also airs game telecasts of all the market's major sports teams, so it attracts advertisers looking to target sports audiences as well.
"It carries the Packers, Brewers, Bucks and Badgers, and it will be very tight coming up this year," says Caskey, who notes that pricing on the station is at a premium.
One other area that's particularly tight on Milwaukee radio is the market's top morning show, "Bob and Brian in the Morning" on rock station WHQG. Pricing on the show are about three times the average morning rate in the market.
The rest of the radio market is much like TV, with spending up slightly and pricing generally flat.
Hot categories include the some of the usual suspects for radio, including fast food, auto and furniture.
This article is reprinted from the Media Economy Newsletter. You can subscribe by following this
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