Obama Local Media Spending

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Barack Obama's campaign paid over $145,000 to local media buying firm Centro in February and March, according to FEC filings. The Illinois Senator's camp paid the Chicago-based company $138,000 in February.

My guess is that money went towards a pre-primary effort aimed at Texas and Ohio voters in February. The campaign went through Centro to buy homepage placements on Texas and Ohio newspaper and TV sites. In addition to purchasing media for the effort, Centro produced the creative. So, just how much of those dollars went towards creative services and other costs for the video-enabled ads vs. actual local media is unclear.

I'll be discussing this campaign during a talk I'll give on local online political advertising Thursday morning at the Kelsey Group's Drilling Down on Local Conference. We'll also be distributing a booklet on how the presidential campaigns have used local online media during the primaries.

You can download a PDF version of All Primaries Are Local: 2008 Presidential Campaigns Buy Local Online for free today!