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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
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More Than $4.5 Billion in Ad Spending This Cycle 2024 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