BTN sees surge in political ads for Iowa games

IOWA CITY - Political campaigns trying to gain traction among Iowa voters have soaked up most of Big Ten Network's advertising inventory for Iowa football games this fall.

Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton has purchased a significant amount of time for Iowa football games, and Republican candidates and their Super PACs have followed suit, said Jim Reeder, BTN's vice president of advertising sales.

'We've seen great deal of interest from some of the Republican candidates and their SuperPACS, yet Hillary was the first one to have the foresight to take advantage of it,” Reeder said.

BTN is owned jointly by Fox (51 percent) and the Big Ten Conference (49 percent), of which Iowa is a member. BTN is scheduled to air at least three Iowa football games this fall - including two at night - and perhaps several more. Last year the BTN broadcast four games.

Iowa remains a critical state for presidential candidates. The state hosts its first-in-the-nation caucuses on Feb. 1 and often launches or ends campaigns based on the results.

Few topics unite the state like college football and games on television draw viewers from all political backgrounds.

'When we have Iowa football on, we reach the whole state through a single feed and there's very few things on a Saturday in the fall or during the week for a basketball game during the winter that's going to unite the state of Iowa and be able to reach as many people as we can,” Reeder said.

Clinton's buying strategy appears to mirror that of President Barack Obama during his presidential campaign against Republican challenger Mitt Romney. On election night 2012, MSNBC political analyst Chuck Todd described the Obama campaign as 'playing in the major leagues” while Romney was 'playing in the minor leagues” when it came to reaching swing-state viewers.

'(The Obama campaign was) advertising on the Big Ten Network, which has higher viewership one day a week but they knew they were talking to working-class Midwestern white guys, part of that Midwestern firewall,” Todd said that night. 'They were advertising on the Big Ten Network five weeks before the Romney campaign ever started advertising on the Big Ten Network.”

'From now until the caucus we're going to talk with Iowans about Hillary Clinton's fight so everyday Iowans can get ahead and stay ahead and we'll take that message to Hawkeye fans this fall as well,” said Lily Adams, Iowa Communications Director for Hillary Clinton.

Reeder said there's a surge in political advertising during this cycle from previous elections, partly because of uncertainty surrounding the Republicans.

'We are seeing, frankly, more demand because of the sheer numbers that are in play,” he said. 'There's definitely an uptick in demand.”

That also means there's less commercial time available for Iowa games. Plus, BTN is sensitive to running nothing but political advertising and overwhelming the audience.

'Strictly from a sellout standpoint, we're going to sell the majority of our inventory now,” Reeder said. 'We get into September and October, we're not going to have the avail to take 20 political ads, even if we wanted to.”

Reeder expects candidates to advertise during Iowa basketball games and wrestling meets through the end of January. Demand for political ads has not yet trickled to other bellwether states like Ohio, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.

'Iowa for now seems to be where the momentum is and interest,” he said.

l Comments: (319) 339-3169; scott.dochterman@thegazette.com