It seems as though terrestrial radio is going to have competition from the online radio world in the big 2012 election cycle. You can now expect to find ads not just on-air, but also online. WOWT-TV reports that listeners of Pandora are now hearing political ads on their devices, when Pandora breaks between some songs to air ads. The TV station quotes political science professor Dr. Randall Atkins, who says, "What Pandora does is allows them to do something cheaper that actually doesn't go over the airways, so it's outside the regulation patterns. They can really target the groups of people that they want. As a result of that they get a lot more bang for their buck." Political campaigns may see online radio and other social media as another platform to get their message out, especially with campaign laws that could see much more money available for ads. One limitation: very low spotloads on Pandora, compared to the "avails" on terrestrial radio.