Expenditure Profile: Mundy Katowitz Media

Introduction

Rank: 4

Clients’ expenditures: $59 million*

Year founded: 2002

Website: munkato.com

Principals:

• Carole Mundy (partner): Oversees the firm’s media planning and placement for multistate and national programs from its Roslyn, N.Y. office.
• Janet Katowitz (partner): A former operative with the Michigan Senate Democratic Caucus, Katowitz manages the firm’s day-to-day operations at its Washington, D.C., office.

Clients:

• Priorities USA Action
• FSA PAC
• LCV Victory Fund
• Progress for Washington

Background:

Founded in 2002, Mundy Katowitz Media (MKM) is a media buying firm that serves Democratic-aligned candidates and indepdent political spending groups. Its top client during the 2012 election was Priorities USA Action, the super PAC supporting President Barack Obama’s re-election.

MKM — run by veteran Democratic operative Janet Katowitz — billed $57 million for advertising time on behalf of Priorities USA Action during the 2012 election cycle. The firm’s other clients included LCV Victory Fund, the super PAC arm of the pro-environment League of Conservation Voters, and FSA PAC, another pro-environment group that placed ads favoring Democrats.

The firm’s other named partner is Carole Mundy, who runs the firm’s New York office.

Media buyers like MKM traditionally collect a commission of up to 15 percent, regardless of their client’s success rate on Election Day.

Katowitz told a group of American University students in 2004 that media buying is “shrouded in mystery” and the reason? “it’s a very lucrative industry.”

Last Updated: Jan. 18, 2013

* Total consists of independent expenditures made to the firm in the 2012 election cycle as reported to the Federal Election Commission.