the “worst places to live” + 50 states of waste
Concept, blog content, and microsite copy for a new business-targeted content series about geographic waste in television advertising. It’s niche and pretty technical, but it’s a big problem, especially if you're a small political campaign. This work didn’t just land — it became local and national news:
"The Worst Districts to Run Ads," Wall Street Journal, 10/17/2014
"Political TV Ads Can Be Wasteful. But That's Changing," The New York Times, 10/21/2014
"Campaigns Waste $200 Million on Ads in Wrong Places," Bloomberg Politics, 10/31/2014
This initiative was so successful that Google wanted in. My agency partnered with them on a microsite, Fifty States of Waste (www.fiftystatesofwaste.com), to demonstrate the cost and waste of a TV ad buy for every Congressional District in the United States. (Blogs were deleted in a site rebuild and have been reproduced here.)
50 States of Waste: Top of the Heap
August 21, 2015
Last year we profiled the Ten Worst Places to Live and broke down the top ten media markets by broadcast spending, identifying which parts of those media markets fall outside state lines and naming them the “worst places to live” thanks to the blast of irrelevant campaign ads.
The discussion about media budgets and advertising strategies will only intensify as the election approaches, which guarantees that the issue will continue to stay in the news.
That inspired us to partner with Google for our newest data visualization project, Fifty States of Waste. We used the Congressional Districts (CDs) in every state to demonstrate waste and inefficiency in broadcast television buying. (Full methodology here.)
The ten most wasteful districts are ranked, but our tool also lists every district in the United States – so once you’ve read about the worst offenders, take a moment to find your own Congressional District (CD).
$80 Million in broadcast has been delivered to voters in the wrong broadcast districts... since Labor Day
October 17, 2014
Previous blogs covered how Designated Market Areas (DMAs) were not designed for political ads and do not line up with state or county lines, often crossing them arbitrarily. Today, we’ll profile the ten congressional districts that have wasted the most money since Labor Day.
These races often comprise small, specific districts that lead to even more inefficient media buying. Since Labor Day, more than $111 million has been spent on broadcast television ads for congressional races. Thanks to mismatched congressional districts and DMAs, over $80 million of that has been wasted broadcasting to voters outside a given district.
Eighty million dollars is a staggering figure. On average, just $0.22 of every dollar reaches a voter in one of these districts.
Each of these districts comprises more than one DMA. Look for a breakdown of single-DMA districts in a future post. And as you read these numbers, remember: The typical congressional campaign uses up to 78% of their ad budget on broadcast television advertising.
10. NY-21: In the northwest corner of the state, home to the Thousand Islands, is New York’s large 21st district. Since Labor Day more than $1.5 million has been spent running advertising to folks that are not in the district.
9. CT-05: Congressional campaigns here waste an astounding 79.5% of every dollar spent, owing to the shape of the district and state borders (MA, NY) on two sides. Since Labor Day, $1,734,838.00 has been wasted here.
8. NY-19: A district encompassing the Hudson Valley and Catskills regions, NY-19 makes for pretty pictures – except for Congressional campaigns, who have wasted over $2 million here just since Labor Day. The district accounts for just 10.5% of the cost of every ad buy.
7. MN-07: The state’s largest and most rural, MN-07 also borders both Dakotas and Canada (a pretty unique distinction.) And campaigns can expect to waste 88% of every dollar spent here reaching one of those three places, or another district in the state. A startling $2,369,158.00 has already been wasted here.
6. WV-03: Comprised of what was once three separate districts, WV-03 has changed as West Virginia’s population shrinks. Unfortunately, redistricting hasn’t cut down on waste much. Losing 60 cents on every dollar spent, $2.476 million has been lost broadcasting outside this district just since Labor Day.
5. TX-23: A remote district in southwest Texas, TX-23 borders (but doesn’t include) El Paso and San Antonio. This may account for the more than $3 million that’s been wasted since Labor Day, in a district where 80% of every media buy reaches outside the district.
4. IL-12: This western Illinois district ebbs and flows with the Mississippi River to the west, and borders Missouri. One of the top five most wasteful races in the country, viewers around this district have already been hit by just over $3.3 million in irrelevant ads – with even more to come before Election Day.
3. MN-08: The neighbor to MN-07, MN-08 takes the northeast corner of the state and covers most of the state’s iron range mining territory. It attracts plenty of spending, too, most of which is wasted. An astounding 87.3% of every media buy goes to viewers outside the district, which even means Canadian viewers in this case. Since Labor Day, $3,658,144.00 has been wasted by Congressional campaigns here.
2. GA-12: Bordering South Carolina and sprawling across the midsection of the state, this district seems set up to be hard to reach. And it is: Congressional campaigns have lost nearly $4 million trying to reach voters here, wasting more than 60 cents on the dollar.
1. AZ-01: This district almost reaches across the state, but doesn’t; it almost covers Tucson, but doesn’t; the district almost covers Phoenix, but doesn’t. These “almosts” add up: Campaigns here waste an enormous 88.5% of every ad buy to reach voters outside the district, and have wasted (by far) the most money of any other campaign on this list: $6,442,717.00.
*All data used for this post were compiled on October 13, 2014 from Kantar CMAG and NCC Media*
These Are the 10 "Worst Places to Live"
September 29, 2014
Geographic waste. You might not know it by name, but you know what it is. And every campaign buying television ads is learning about it, too.
Television is bought in Designated Marketing Areas (DMAs), which don't line up with many political districts, meaning that many places in the country are (or are about to be) swamped in campaign ads from neighboring states. In some cases, campaigns spend up to 80% of their TV dollars targeting households that legally can’t vote for them.
These are the top ten DMAs by wasted broadcast spending, ranked by the communities they’re also reaching. Places with the misfortune of being nearby a competitive race. In the coming months, at least for television audiences, these will be the “worst places to live” – all thanks to the coming blast of irrelevant campaign ads.
10. Rock Hill
People in Rock Hill spend a lot of time outside. With outdoor destinations like the Riverwalk and the Catawba River, it’s hard to blame them. Rock Hill is close to everything: Columbia, the state capital, Greenville and the Upstate region, and much more.
It’s also close to Charlotte, just over the border in North Carolina. The two cities are so close that Rock Hill is in Charlotte’s Direct Marketing Area (DMA), meaning that every TV ad intended for Charlotte and its North Carolina neighbors crosses the border into South Carolina, covering Rock Hill and other locales. And this year, North Carolina is hosting a hyper-competitive Senate race – expected to be one of the most expensive, and hard-fought, in the nation. To date, over 17,000 ads have aired at a cost of $11,547,640.
And 12% of that sum is spent airing commercials to places like Rock Hill, where viewers cannot vote for anyone in North Carolina. Until Nov. 4, South Carolina voters will be inundated with advertisements for North Carolina races.
9. Boston
Boston shares markets with Manchester, New Hampshire, though the two are more than 50 miles apart. One of these cities is more than five times the size of the other, as measured by the 2012 Census.
As New Hampshire’s biggest city, Manchester, not Boston, will play a decisive role in one of the Senate races that is close enough to potentially decide the majority in November. But sprawling regional DMAs dictate that reaching Manchester also means reaching Massachusetts. Boston in particular.
With the highest waste percentage on this list (82.4%), the Boston-Manchester DMA is a nice to live but a terrible place to buy television ads. Senate campaigns in New Hampshire have spent almost $4 million this fall, about 82% of which is the cost of reaching Boston and other parts of Massachusetts that cannot vote for Jeanne Shaheen or Scott Brown.
8. East Moline
East Moline is a typical Midwestern small town, almost 15 square miles. Across the river in Iowa, one of the closest and most hotly contested Senate races in the country is happening. And everyone in East Moline falls under the DMA for neighboring Davenport, meaning that political television ads meant for Iowans also reach East Moline. No one in town can legally vote for Bruce Braley or Joni Ernst, but they’ll be household names once this is over, thanks to more than 9,750 ads and $2,825,720 in total airtime bought already by Iowa Senate campaigns.
All in all, 54% of all advertising buys made for the Davenport DMA go to households in East Moline, households who cannot vote in the races advertised to them.
7. Southern Indiana
Across the Ohio River from southern Indiana is Louisville, the Kentucky state capital, and the epicenter of another competitive Senate race, one that could cost over $100 million once all is said and done.
The race in Kentucky is nasty. Not only could it decide the Senate majority, it might help pick a new Senate Majority speaker – and every night, it’s broadcasted into the homes of folks in southern Indiana.
A full 25% of the cost of every ad buy in the Louisville DMA goes out of state. In total, campaigns on both sides have spent more than $1,613,980 this fall to cover the forests, caves, and voters of southern Indiana.
6. Bristol County
Laying claim to one of the most honest-yet-entertaining official mottos (“We’ll Try”) is Fall River, a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts. Bristol County is on the eastern side of the state bordering the Atlantic and Rhode Island. This fall, it’s the second of those two that will be problematic for Fall River, New Bedford, and everywhere else in the county, as the Rhode Island governor’s race heats up.
Campaigns in Rhode Island have spent about $5.7 million on television ads – and 32% of that cost goes towards broadcasting to Bristol County, a waste of more than $1.8 million.
“Try” as they may, it's been hard for those in Bristol County to miss the 15,101 spots already aired in the lead-up to Election Day.
5. Cincinnati
Already spending money to cover swaths of southern Indiana (see #7 on this list), media buyers in the Kentucky Senate race face another expensive, enormous DMA in Cincinnati, where they have to spend to cover large parts of Ohio and Indiana just to reach a handful of counties in northern Kentucky. The same message intended for viewers in tiny Claryville, Ky. (population 2,355), reaches students at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, more than an hour’s drive away.
Campaigns have spent $2,611,980 to reach parts of northern Kentucky. It’s expected that 79.1% of that of that figure has been broadcasted to Ohio and Indiana, where voters cannot participate in the Kentucky election.
4: Gary
As persistent as the people of Gary are the political ads that reach them year after year. Even though it’s about 30 miles away, Gary sits in Chicago’s DMA, meaning that ads broadcast to the Chicago market also reach Gary. For regional businesses, this might not always be so bad. In politics, however, that extra reach over state lines guarantees that 10% of every buy is wasted on people who cannot cast a ballot in Illinois.
This year, gubernatorial campaigns in Illinois have spent $26 million to broadcast 11,396 commercials to the Chicago area. Thanks to the broad, untargeted borders drawn by DMAs, almost 10% of that spend is wasted reaching voters in Gary.
3. Washington D.C. and Northern Virginia
Democrats in the Maryland gubernatorial primary know where many of their key voters are: Montgomery and Prince George’s counties. Unfortunately, reaching these voters with television ads requires buying ad time in all of Washington D.C. as well as parts of northern Virginia.
Having already spent $7.76 million on advertising, Maryland campaigns will waste approximately 59.1% of every dollar spent to reach Virginians inside the Beltway and down Interstate 95.
2. Fairfield County and Northern New Jersey
In November, Republicans hope to unseat Andrew Cuomo as Governor of New York. Both parties are spending heavily to reach voters in the New York metropolitan area, including suburbs like Westchester County and White Plains. They’ve already spent more than $16.2 million in total to reach the New York DMA.
They will also pay to reach viewers as far away as Seaside Heights, New Jersey and Fairfield, Connecticut.
All told, campaigns will waste 38.6% of every television ad buy to cover New York, Connecticut, and New Jersey with advertising relevant to just one of the three states here.
1. Southern New Jersey and Delaware
One cannot run for office in Pennsylvania and ignore Philadelphia and its suburbs. Republican, Democrat or otherwise.
Placing a television ad in the Philadelphia DMA – or 10,840 of them, as has been the case so far this fall in the Pennsylvania governor's race – comes with an enormous cost. Reaching just eight counties in Pennsylvania (including Philadelphia), and around 3.3 million eligible voters comes at the cost of reaching southern New Jersey and almost all of Delaware.
Around 36 cents of every dollar will be wasted this fall in the Philadelphia DMA, reaching almost two million people ineligible to vote in Pennsylvania.