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