Trump and Harris Even in TV Ad Spots This Past Week(MIDDLETOWN, CT) October 31, 2024 – In its final pre-election analysis, the Wesleyan Media Project has examined ad spending for the entire election cycle back to January 2023. We identify nearly $4.5 billion in television and radio advertising in federal and gubernatorial campaigns, which does not include digital spending covered below (Figure 1). Over $3.4 billion of that total was committed to local broadcast or national network advertising. An additional $770 million was committed to television ads on local and national cable networks. “Television ads continue to dominate federal and…

Nearly $300 Million in Presidential Ad Spending Across Platforms Over Past Two Weeks(MIDDLETOWN, CT) October 24, 2024 – During the past two weeks, pro-Trump ads outnumbered pro-Harris ads on broadcast television by about 10,000 airings, according to a new report from the Wesleyan Media Project.  Table 1 shows that pro-Trump ads numbered about 71,000 during the October 7 to October 20 time period, while pro-Harris ads numbered about 61,000.  This is a change from recent weeks, when pro-Harris ads heavily out-weighed pro-Trump spots. However, Harris and her allies are airing advertising on national network and national cable television, which count…

(MIDDLETOWN, CT) October 17, 2024 – The Wesleyan Media Project is releasing the fourth post in a series of regularly updated overviews of issue mentions, this time focusing on the presidential race by media market. Below, we show the percentage of ads mentioning eight key issues tracked by the WMP (abortion, energy/environment, guns, health care, housing, immigration, inflation, public safety). The post covers ads from all sponsors (candidates, parties, and outside groups) aired on broadcast TV in the Presidential race from July 22, 2024 to October 15, 2024. Note that percentages across the columns may total more than 100 percent…

Photo Gage Skidmore/flickr But Harris Still Has Large Ad Advantages, especially on Digital(MIDDLETOWN, CT) October 10, 2024 – According to a new report from the Wesleyan Media Project, about 71,000 pro-Harris ads have run on broadcast television over the past two weeks, substantially more than the 51,000 pro-Trump ads that have run during the same time period. But pro-Trump advertisers have been narrowing that gap in recent days. The Harris campaign has sponsored over 53,000 ad airings since September 23 (Table 1), and has been supported by another 17,000 ads from outside groups, including FF PAC, Project Freedom LLC, and…

(MIDDLETOWN, CT) October 3, 2024 – The Wesleyan Media Project is releasing the third post in a series of regularly updated overviews of issue mentions in federal races by state. Below, we show the percentage of ads mentioning eight key issues tracked by the WMP (abortion, energy/environment, guns, health care, housing, immigration, inflation, public safety). The post covers ads from all sponsors (candidates, parties, and outside groups) aired on broadcast TV in U.S. House and U.S. Senate races from August 1, 2024 to September 30, 2024 (shown by month). Note that percentages across the columns may total more than 100…