McCain to outspend Obama on Olympic ads

By Paul J. Gough

NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) - A week after the Obama campaign booked $5 million worth of advertising time during NBC's upcoming Beijing Olympics telecasts, the rival McCain camp said it has ponied up $6 million for summer's biggest TV event.

It isn't clear how much the Republican presidential candidate will be spending per spot. A primetime 30-second spot for a regular advertiser is going for as much as $750,000.

McCain's buy includes multiple dayparts on NBC, including primetime, as well as cable for the 2-1/2 weeks of the games, which begin on Friday.

The buys by Obama and McCain are the first national broadcast TV spots by a presidential campaign since Bob Dole bought a single national TV commercial in 1996. Most of the TV advertising, and there is still a lot of it, is done on local TV in battleground states and on cable TV.

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter