Ad Spending

A new statewide poll shows Rick Santorum has a narrow advantage over Mitt Romney among Michigan Republican primary voters. The key question is whether money will trump momentum with less than two weeks before the state's key vote. The Detroit News survey of 500 likely voters puts Santorum ahead of Romney 34% to 30%, with Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul lagging behind at 12% and 9%, respectively. Twelve percent were undecided. A loss for Romney in Michigan, which he won in 2008 and where he claims favorite son status, would truly shake up the GOP race and potentially extend the nomination battle well beyond March.

It's been 10 days since the South Carolina primary, and 28 since the first nominating contest of the presidential cycle, the Iowa caucuses. Now, Florida is poised to hand a potentially decisive victory to Mitt Romney, giving him a surge of delegates and fresh momentum before Saturday's Nevada caucuses. As voting is set to close, here are some figures that tell the story of the Florida primary campaign. 7 As in 7 p.m., when the polls close. Because the Florida Panhandle is in the Central time zone, a result will not be called by the Associated Press or television networks until 8 p.m. Eastern, even though results will be coming in from the rest of the state.

From the beginning of the 2012 campaign, Mitt Romney has strained to give the impression that despite his money, muscle and organizational might, he is running his campaign as if he is 10 points down with hours to go. But that was a tall order for the candidate Monday, as new polls showed him rocketing to a 20-point lead over rival Newt Gingrich here hours before voting begins. Loose and relaxed as he made his 14-hour sprint from a Jacksonville forklift company to a mobbed rally before thousands of retirees at The Villages, Romney no longer seemed concerned about hiding his confidence.

The four remaining GOP presidential candidates and their supporters will have spent $10.4 million on broadcast television advertising in South Carolina by the time polls close there Saturday, swamping the state with finger-pointing spots. And that total doesn't include the more than $2 million of combined air time purchased by Rick Perry and Make Us Great Again, a pro-Perry "super PAC," before the Texas governor pulled out of the race Thursday. Back in 2008, when five Republicans were vying for the nomination, the television ad war totaled $6.9 million, according to Kantar Media's Campaign Media Analysis Group.

A year that began with a bang was interrupted by a quake, and now is ending with a whimper. Next year is projected to be better — but not for everybody. The March earthquake and tsunami in Japan, which put a months-long halt to automobile production, combined with a moribund job market and a steady drumbeat of bad economic news to slam the brakes on television advertising sales. Early in 2011, economists predicted that TV advertising revenue in the U.S. would increase 6% this year to an all-time high.

The Golden Globe Awards show must go on — and it will on NBC, at least for another year. The Hollywood Foreign Press Assn., creator and owner of the high-profile event; Dick Clark Productions, which produces the show; and broadcaster NBC said Friday that they had cobbled together a one-year agreement to jointly stage the annual awards fest at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on Jan. 15. However, the pact does little to resolve the uncertainty surrounding...

The Internet revolutionized political fundraising, but when it comes to spending those dollars, media strategists are voting old school. Candidates and supporters are caught up in a frenetic advertising blitz, on pace to drop a record $3 billion, according to analysts who monitor spending. Most of the money is going to an old-media workhorse: local TV stations. Two years ago, then-candidate Barack Obama successfully tapped the Internet to raise money and mobilize millions of voters.

Publicis Groupe, owner of ad firm Saatchi & Saatchi, said it is buying Microsoft Corp.'s Razorfish advertising agency for $530 million in cash and stock to expand in Internet advertising. Razorfish will continue to operate under its own name and Microsoft will continue using the agency for online advertising and marketing, the companies said in a joint statement. In buying Razorfish, Publicis expands its digital-ad business as demand slows for traditional print and television campaigns.

The bankruptcy of General Motors Corp., one of America's biggest advertisers, deals yet another blow to TV stations, newspapers and magazines that already are reeling from the recession. Sports franchises also could feel the sting, with analysts expecting the automaker to continue cutting back its multimillion-dollar sponsorships of professional teams. GM shelled out $2.1 billion on advertising last year, second only to Procter & Gamble Co., according to Nielsen Co.

U.S. advertising spending dropped 2.6% last year as the worst recession since 1982 forced automakers, movie producers and drug makers to slash marketing, researcher Nielsen Co. said Friday. Outlays fell almost $3.7 billion from the year earlier to $136.8 billion, according to preliminary figures by New York-based Nielsen. All of the top 10 advertisers cut their budgets last year, led by Chrysler's majority owner, Cerberus Capital Management; Ford Motor Co.; Time Warner Inc.