Colorado Springs is a key media market in a key swing state, according to a list compiled a week ago by MSNBC. The news outlet found that last week, Colorado Springs ranked fourth on a top-10 nationwide list of per-person political advertising in metropolitan broadcast markets.
The ads in question were paid for by President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign and four other political groups.
The Colorado Springs media market, which includes much of the surrounding areas and towns, rang up 2,545 advertising points for political and issue ads for the week of May 14. Ahead of the Springs was the Greensboro-High Point area in North Carolina, which hit 2,940, the Roanoke-Lynchburg area in Virginia, which hit 2,846, and the Norfolk-Portsmouth area, which hit 2,715.
Those four areas all ranked higher than more well-known politically competitive metro areas such as Toledo, Ohio and Des Moines, Iowa.
All 10 metro areas, though, are in presidential swing states that will be hotly contested throughout the election season — North Carolina, Virginia, Colorado, Ohio and Iowa.
Part of one broadcast area, the Greenville-Spartanburg-Ashville media market, is also in South Carolina.
The four groups aside from the Obama campaign that were included in the calculation were the conservative organizations American Future Fund, American Crossroads, and Restore Our Future, and the Democratic-leaning Priorities USA.
Advertising points are calculated based on the number of people and TV sets in a media market and the frequency of an ad’s airing. Proportionately, the more people in an area who are reached by an ad in a media market such as Colorado Springs, the more successful the ad.
That means that the five groups spent more money per person in all the 10 metropolitan areas listed by MSNBC. Of the five, the Obama campaign accumulated by far the most advertising points.
The full list:
Greensboro-High Point, NC: 2,940
Roanoke-Lynchburg, VA: 2,846
Norfolk-Portsmouth, VA: 2,715
Colorado Springs, CO: 2,545
Greenville-Spartanburg-Ashville, NC and SC: 2,535
Raleigh-Durham, VA: 2,425
Des Moines, IA: 2,280
Richmond-Petersburg, VA: 2,145
Cedar Rapids, IA: 2,130
Toledo, OH: 2,105
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