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Wesleyan Media Project

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Ad spending totals $700 million in the past two months, reaching $1.7 billion cycle-to-date 2026 ElectionsReleases

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

Nearly 30 percent of ad spending to-date is via streaming(MIDDLETOWN, CT) May 14, 2026 – Spending on campaign advertising in the 2025-2026 midterm election cycle in House, Senate and gubernatorial races has totaled $700 million in just the past two months, thanks, in part, to some extremely competitive primary campaigns (Table 1).  The totals for cycle-to-date spending (as of May 10th) are $1.7 billion. (For comparison, this total is more than double the spending over the same period in 2023-2024 though the specific gubernatorial and congressional races included in both years were different). Groups account for more than 60 percent…
Wesleyan Media Project
May 14, 2026
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Midterm political ad spending reaches $565 million 2026 ElectionsReleases

Midterm political ad spending reaches $565 million

Groups account for over 60 percent of spending(MIDDLETOWN, CT) March 5, 2026 – Spending on political advertising in the 2026 races for U.S. House and U.S. Senate has reached $565 million cycle-to-date, ahead of the first round of party primaries this week. The total – which includes spending from January 1, 2025, through March 1, 2026 – has been boosted by high levels of spending from groups, which have accounted for over 60 percent of total ad spending in both the Senate and the House. Table 1 shows ad spending in the 2025-26 election cycle, with spending broken down across…
Wesleyan Media Project
March 5, 2026
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Advertising Tone Spotlight (9/1/24-11/5/24) Uncategorized

Advertising Tone Spotlight (9/1/24-11/5/24)

(MIDDLETOWN, CT) January 7, 2026 – The Wesleyan Media Project is releasing the first Advertising Tone Spotlight. Below, we show the count of tone by sponsor during the general election period. This post covers tone by adtype  (candidates, parties, issue-election, and private citizens) aired on broadcast TV in U.S. House, U.S. Senate, and Presidential races from September 1, 2024, to November 5, 2024.JTVCdGFibGUlMjBpZCUzRDc4MiUyMCUyRiU1RA==Data reported here from Vivvix/CMAG do not cover local cable buys, only broadcast television, national network and national cable buys. The Wesleyan Media Project provides real-time tracking and analysis of all political television advertising in an effort to…
Wesleyan Media Project
January 7, 2026
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Cross-Platform Election Advertising Transparency Initiative (CREATIVE) Research Published Politics

Cross-Platform Election Advertising Transparency Initiative (CREATIVE) Research Published

(MIDDLETOWN, CT) June 24, 2025 – New research published from the Wesleyan Media Project (WMP) in collaboration with Privacy Tech Lab at Wesleyan University describes a new  cross-platform digital advertising dataset.  The data cover federal election activity from the 2022 midterm general election period for Meta and Google. Published in Scientific Data and funded in part by the National Science Foundation, “Comparable 2022 General Election Advertising Datasets from Meta and Google” (open access link) seeks to provide a starting point for scholars seeking to understand, describe, and assess the impact of the 2022 digital advertising landscape on the two largest…
Wesleyan Media Project
June 24, 2025