Political ads on cable are all about the base

DOES YOUR TV-watching reflect your politics?

Those who buy and place political ads think it does.

And, as viewing habits continue to disperse among hundreds of cable choices, political parties and groups behind so-called independent expenditures are increasingly targeting ad buys to specific channels.

This is the new TV campaign.

Cable is cheaper and offers niche programming. When that's coupled with advances in technology, as in "we know what you're watching," guess what? You're in an election cycle in which more political money is being spent on cable than ever before.

It's nowhere near what's spent on network. Broadcast channels command between 80 percent and 90 percent of the billions of political TV dollars spent nationally.

But cable buys are getting bigger, and the focus is on placement.

A new national study first reported last week in the  Washington Post details such placement.

It tells us something about who's watching what and maybe confirms some stereotypes about who tends to vote with which party.

You won't be surprised to learn that the study found Republicans place most of their cable ads on channels appealing to men while Democratic placement tends to be on channels appealing to women and young people.

That's because on cable, the game is get the base.

It's also no shock that the vast majority of ads on Fox News (84 percent) are Republican or that most of the political ads on MSNBC (85 percent) are Democratic.

Both these news sources are known for ideological slants and for reinforcing the views of the majority of their viewers.

(They are also the two best reasons to watch political debates on C-SPAN, where no one tells you what to think or, afterward, who won.)

The study in question was done by Echelons Insights, a Washington-based GOP digital- and ad-strategy firm. It looked at 512,000 ads this year, at buying across top cable channels and at how each political side targets viewers.

Echelon's Patrick Ruffini tells me his firm's review reflects "just about what you'd expect" in terms of demographic targets for both parties.

But while traditional placement for political ads tends to be around regular broadcast newscasts - on the theory that's what likely voters are watching - cable-buying isn't following tradition.

That's especially true this year, a midterm election year when voter turnout is lower than in presidential years and when poll after poll suggests record-low voter interest.

So cable is used to chase the base, to go after, as it were, one's own people.

Guess where that effort's happening?

The most partisan channels in terms of placement are not Fox and MSNBC.

They are the Golf Channel, where 93 percent of ads are Republican, and the E! Network, where 94 percent are Democratic.

Other heavy GOP placements are on the History Channel, ESPN2 and the Discovery Channel.

Other top Democratic placements are on Comedy Central, BET and Lifetime.

So Republicans like golf and history; Democrats like celebs and humor.

Who knew?

And, say campaign consultants who spoke on background because they're involved in current races, the cable buys in the first half of the year were aimed at voters in contested primaries, and cable buys after that are aimed at spurring turnout.

One finding that shows a semblance of similarity between political parties?

The cable channel with the closest shared buy is FX. Guess everybody likes "Justified," "The Americans," "Louie" and "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia."

I was hoping the big share would be on USA and the Food Network, you know, America and apple pie. But then those channels didn't offer "Archer" or "Fargo."

Blog: ph.ly/BaerGrowls

Columns: ph.ly/JohnBaer