• by Wayne Friedman , December 9, 2015

Touting its political advertising strength for the upcoming presidential season, the TVB -- the local TV industry trade group -- has started up a “We Get Voters” marketing campaign.

The TVB will be airing TV commercials in key primary states starting Dec. 13.

The spot starts off with the claim “Americans Love Talking Politics,” noting they have five face-to-face TV conversations a week. It also adds Americans get most of their political information from local broadcast TV.

The spot ends with a voiceover: “Local TV. We Get Voters.”

At the same time, the TVB touts research from word-of-mouth researcher Keller Fay, which cites a study reporting 83% of all American political conversations happen face-to-face, and that 60% of voters bring up stories heard on local TV news in their daily conversations.

In addition, the study says 30% of political conversations happen while watching television — much more than online (8%); social media (8%); or reading an article online (6%).

Also, 100% of respondents’ political conversations were affected by political ads seen on local broadcast TV, either as a conversation starter or by being referenced in conversation.

A number of estimates forecast that political advertising for TV will hit a record in 2016 -- just under $5 billion.