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Year-End Summaries

Microphones and American flag
2022 ElectionsBlogReleasesYear-End Summaries

New Studies Published on Television and Digital Advertising in the 2022 Midterms

(MIDDLETOWN, CT) February 22, 2023 – New research published by the Wesleyan Media Project provides two summaries of political advertising activity in the 2022 midterms. 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) and Google (including YouTube, display and search) by federal candidates (open access link).   Key takeaways from the publications are as…
Wesleyan Media Project
February 22, 2023
Biden Harris signs by Gage Skidmore
2020 ElectionsReleasesYear-End Summaries

Political Ads in 2020: Fast and Furious

Photo: Gage Skidmore/Flickr WMP Publishes End-of-Cycle Report   (MIDDLETOWN, CT) March 23, 2021 – New research published by the Wesleyan Media Project co-directors in The Forum: A Journal of Applied Research in Contemporary Politics (gated) provides a post-mortem on the fast and furious political advertising in the 2020 cycle.  Our analysis of the volume and spending on political advertising—both on television and online—suggests a few initial conclusions.  First, ad volumes in 2020 were off the charts.  Second, Democrats’ dominance of advertising on television was clear, with pro-Biden ads outnumbering pro-Trump ads two to one or even three to one in most media markets…
Wesleyan Media Project
March 23, 2021
2018 ElectionsBlogReleasesYear-End Summaries

Latest WMP Research

Photo: John Brighenti/Flickr 2018 Political Advertising Year-end Summary Published in PS (MIDDLETOWN, CT) September 27, 2019 -- New research published in PS by Erika Franklin Fowler, Michael M. Franz and Travis N. Ridout, co-directors of the Wesleyan Media Project, offers a post-mortem on political advertising in 2018, providing important context for that year’s “blue wave” in which Democrats picked up 40 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. Using ad tracking data from the Wesleyan Media Project, the authors find that in the vast majority of races, there were more pro-Democratic than pro-Republican ads, including in the most competitive contests—and even in those races…
Wesleyan Media Project
September 27, 2019