Columbus: TV is nearly sold out this fall

Columbus, Ohio, is already a healthy media market driven by hot categories such as auto, grocery and retail.

As the capital of one of the nation's most important presidential swing states, the market is also being slammed with political dollars.
 
TV stations in Columbus are near sell-out conditions in high-demand dayparts such as primetime and news, and the market is among the nation's top 10 for political spending.
 
Through Sept. 9, local TV political spending in Columbus was at $22.36 million, according to Wells Fargo Securities, No. 6 in the U.S. behind Washington, D.C., Cleveland, Tampa, Las Vegas and Orlando.
 
The squeeze on inventory will increase even more as November approaches, and the strong spending will have implications well after the election.
 
"It's having a huge impact, and some stations did not predict how early it would hit," says one buyer. "There will [also] be impact in November and probably into December because of crowd-out from September and October."
 
Advertisers that are sitting out the cluttered political season will return in mid-November. Holiday retail spending is also expected to be high, meaning healthy conditions in the market will continue into 2013.
 
"Both radio and TV stations are optimistic about next year, even outside of political," the buyer says.
 
Radio isn't seeing as much spending directly from political campaigns and issues, but the medium is tightening with advertisers shifting money to radio from cluttered and expensive TV.
 
"There are stations in sellouts at this point, with some mentioning morning and afternoon drives as being the most pressured," says the buyer.
 
Clear Channel has a strong hold on radio in Columbus, owning the market's top four stations in August, according to Arbitron ratings.
 
The leader is hot adult contemporary station WNCI-FM, which averaged a 10.7 portable-people-meter rating in August. That was well ahead of the market's No. 2 station, Clear Channel's country outlet WCOL-FM, with an 8.7.
 
Clear Channel oldies station WODC-FM was No. 3 last month with a 7.4 PPM rating, while its news-talk station WTVN-AM was No. 4 with a 5.7.
 
While WTVN ranks No. 4 in the market, it is one of the tightest stations in Columbus for a few reasons. First, it airs syndicated political programs from Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Glenn Beck, and so it is receiving lots of political ad money.
 
Also, the station and its web site supply news on sports teams from Ohio State University, which is particularly popular during football season.

Tags: ad spending, clear channel, columbus, columbus ad spending, columbus political spending, local ad spending, News Talk, Ohio State University, political, political ad spending, radio, Radio Stations, retail, Sean Hannity, tv, Wells Fargo Securities