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Wesleyan Media Project
By In 2026 Elections

Past Two Weeks Sees $210 Million in Ad Spending; $20 Million Spent on AI Ads This Cycle

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Wesleyan Media Project
By In 2026 Elections

Ad spending totals $700 million in the past two months, reaching $1.7 billion cycle-to-date

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Wesleyan Media Project
By In 2026 Elections

Midterm political ad spending reaches $565 million

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New Studies Published on Television and Digital Advertising in the 2024 Elections Washington dc capitol view on cloudy sky background2024 ElectionsBlogReleasesYear-End Summaries

New Studies Published on Television and Digital Advertising in the 2024 Elections

(MIDDLETOWN, CT) June 24, 2025 – New research published by the Wesleyan Media Project provides two summaries of political advertising activity in the 2024 U.S. elections. The two pieces appear in the latest issue of The Forum: A Journal of Applied Research in Contemporary Politics and are both freely available through open access. The first examines advertising trends on television across all sponsors (open access link) while the second hones in on digital activity on Meta (including Facebook and Instagram), Google (including YouTube, display and search), and Snapchat by federal candidates (open access link).Key takeaways from the publications are as…
Wesleyan Media Project
June 24, 2025
Dark Money on TV in the 2024 Elections 2024 ElectionsReleases

Dark Money on TV in the 2024 Elections

(MIDDLETOWN, CT) March 14, 2025 - The Wesleyan Media Project (WMP) has examined the sponsorship of advertising on television in federal races during the 2023-24 election cycle.  In this report, the WMP is focusing on advertising by outside groups, looking specifically at different group types.  In partnership with OpenSecrets, the Wesleyan Media Project classifies groups in two ways.  First, we identify groups by their tax and regulatory classifications, such as Super PACs, traditional PACs, or non-profit 501c4s.  Second, we label groups based on their donor disclosure.  Classifications on this measure fall into three types: full-disclosure groups (meaning they disclose contributor…
Wesleyan Media Project
March 14, 2025
More Than $4.5 Billion in Ad Spending This Cycle Voting booths in a room with sun shining in2024 ElectionsReleases

More Than $4.5 Billion in Ad Spending This Cycle

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…
Wesleyan Media Project
October 31, 2024
Harris TV Ads Plummet Before Rebounding American flag flying with a cloudy blue sky background2024 ElectionsReleases

Harris TV Ads Plummet Before Rebounding

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…
Wesleyan Media Project
October 24, 2024
Presidential Advertising Issue Spotlight (7/22/24 – 10/15/24) Warm spotlight2024 ElectionsReleases

Presidential Advertising Issue Spotlight (7/22/24 – 10/15/24)

(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…
Wesleyan Media Project
October 17, 2024
New report details at least $600 million in digital ad spending this cycle piles of hundred dollar bills with dark shadows2024 ElectionsReleases

New report details at least $600 million in digital ad spending this cycle

Donors hard or impossible to track in up to half of the ad spendingA new report from the Wesleyan Media Project, the Brennan Center and OpenSecrets sheds light on the scope of online ad spending this election cycle on the two largest online platforms, Google and Meta. Among the report’s key findings are: In the 2024 election cycle through the end of August, advertisers who spent at least $5,000 on Google and Meta bought $619 million in political ads, with at least $248 million focused on the presidential race. Of spenders on Meta and Google known to advertise in support…
Wesleyan Media Project
October 16, 2024