Roxas still lags in surveys despite heavy advertising: analyst
RG Cruz, ABS-CBN News
Posted at 01/07/16 3:24 PM
MANILA - Despite heavy investments in political advertising, administration standard bearer Mar Roxas is still lagging in pre-election surveys, an analyst pointed out Thursday.
University of the Philippines (UP)-based political analyst Ranjit Rye made this analysis as Roxas emerged as among the top political advertisers for the 2016 elections, according to a report by Nielsen Philippines Advertising Information Service (AIS).
Rye noted that Roxas is still lagging despite his expenses.
"Take note that Mar, despite investing a lot, is still lagging in surveys. So the final product, the candidate, is still the most important asset of any campaign. If people don't like the candidate, it will not matter how much they spend in the
campaign," he said.
Rye maintained that a grassroots network of supporters cannot be ignored.
"The ad campaign as well as the emerging social campaign of candidates will definitely play a big role not just in increasing awareness but also in broadening, deepening and eventually consolidating their vote. Big media advertising expenditures will be a big factor but not the sole determinant. Campaign machinery, local and national alliances will also play a significant role," he said.
Pulse Asia President Ronald Holmes, for his part, said, "Ads can influence voting preferences and messages in ads are crafted by the strategists of candidates."
According to the recently released Nielsen Philippines AIS data, Vice President Jejomar Binay, Senator Grace Poe and Roxas emerged as the top political advertisers from January to November 2015.
Separately, Binay and Roxas also had tandem ads with their running mates Gringo Honasan and Leni Robredo. Robredo had her own ads while Honasan didn't.
Over P3.5 billion in political advertising was spent by the candidates who figured in the study. The candidates covered are running in various local and national posts.
The monitoring covered Metro Manila TV, 28 TV stations from Monday to Sunday from sign on to sign off for ABS-CBN, GMA7 and TV5 while other free-to-air and cable channels were monitored from 6 a.m. to 12 midnight; radio in 15 areas covering 110 radio stations from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m.; and for print, 265 newspapers and 50 magazines.
The study was based on published rate cards of networks and does not include local TV placements in specific areas. TV monitoring covers Metro Manila only.
Binay, Poe, Roxas and Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, who was also in the list of top advertisers, are also the 4 leading candidates for the country's highest office based on parallel surveys for the same period by leading pollsters.