Obama Buys a Half-Hour Infomercial Slot on Prime Time TV

With money continuing to pour in, Barack Obama has found a new way to spend some of it. Officials at the Obama campaign and several television networks confirmed Thursday that the Democratic presidential candidate had purchased a half-hour of prime time network television for a campaign infomercial, something that hasn't been done in a presidential campaign for 16 years.

So far Obama has purchased 20-minute slots on CBS and NBC, and will air his first infomercial on those networks on Wednesday, October 29. The campaign is also in talks with ABC and FOX for similar deals with their networks. However, the possibility of a World Series Game 6 may make that unlikely on FOX.

Network officials, as well as the Obama campaign, declined to discuss the cost of the television air time. An analysis of advertising rates by the New York Times, however, indicates that commercial time for that period would be $1million. If the networks were charging for the entire half hour, and not only for the commercial time, the cost would be significantly more.

Obama's program is scheduled to run at 8pm in the time slot of "The New Adventures of Old Christine" on CBS, and the first half of the new version of "Knight Rider" on NBC.

While half-hour commercials were far more popular in the early days of TV, they haven't been regularly used in modern campaigns. John F. Kennedy and Richard M. Nixon both used extended air time to get their messages, but the last presidential candidate to use the format was Ross Perot in 1992.