Emanuel Holds An Overwhelming Spending Advantage In Television Ads
By Chuck Sudo in News on Jan 16, 2015 7:05PM
Photo credit: 2014 City of Chicago/Brooke Collins
Rahm Emanuel won’t need to spend all of the $11 million in his campaign fund to run for re-election, but he’s showing what that overwhelming fundraising advantage buys.
Emanuel has spent $1.3 million to air television ads on Chicago broadcast and cable outlets since the new year began, and $4.1 million overall since mid-November. Primary challengers Bob Fioretti and Jesus “Chuy” Garcia have not bought any ads yet, so this puts the mayor in an advantageous position, especially since he’s largely absent from the spots and letting others do the talking for him.
Who needs to worry about low approval ratings when you have these endorsements.(Never mind some folks believe Emanuel is taking too much credit for many of the accomplishments his campaign is touting.)
Only one other mayoral candidate has bought television ads. But you not have seen them ... until now.
Emanuel has bought 1,000 Gross Ratings Points of broadcast TV a week. According to Aldertrack's Mike Fourcher, 100 points is typically needed to ensure all television watchers see a commercial at least once. Wilson has only spent $66,220 on ads, placing him at around 25 points a week. Fourcher did a comparative analysis of the ad buys which we've embedded below.