The 2024 election season’s advertising spend is going to be nearly $8 billion more than 2016’s, according to AdImpact. In fact, it will be the most expensive election cycle of all time. Here’s how your client can make the most of their ad dollars with television ads.

Television Ads to Capture Highest Portion of Political Messages

What’s Going On?

It’s normal for political advertising spend to grow steadily over time, but this election season is different. “We expect to see record spending this cycle due to a highly contested Presidential election, razor-​thin margins in Congress, and tremendous growth in the Downballot category, which consists of all political spending that is not Presidential, House, Senate, or Gubernatorial,” says AdImpact.

The 2020 election cycle had previously broken the spending record at $9 billion. 2024’s is expected to reach $10.2 billion.

What will it be spent on?

Political Ad Media Spending

No matter the category (Downballot, President, Senate, House, or Governor), broadcast television ads have the highest budget. Here are the primary categories AdImpact says this year’s political ad dollars will be divided between:

• Broadcast TV: $5.1 billion
• Cable TV: $2.1 billion
• CTV: $1.3 billion
• Digital: $1.2 billion
• Radio: $0.4 billion
• Satellite: $0.1 billion

That means that broadcast television ads account for nearly half of all 2024 political spending all by themselves. That’s nothing new, though.

According to a previous SalesFuel blog, based on data from MediaPost, in 2022, political advertisers spent:

• $4.73 billion on broadcast TV ads
• $1.79 billion on cable TV ads
• $1.09 billion on CTV ads

Broadcast TV has been king of political ads for a long time. “Advertisers spend money where there are results,” says the blog. “TV ads provide political causes with results.”

According to AdImpact, Spanish language broadcast will make up $121 million of broadcast television ads’ budget. This is “largely due to the number of competitive races in states with high Spanish-​speaking populations.” These states include Arizona, Florida, Nevada, and Texas.

Which Ads Your Client Should Use

Of course, just because broadcast television ads are the top overall political ad type doesn’t mean they’re always best. Your client should pick which TV ads to use based on their target audience’s preferences. That’s where AudienceSCAN on AdMall by SalesFuel comes in.

Simply look up your client’s target audience’s profile to discover:

• Broadcast and Cable TV marketing information
• What percentage of this audience took action because of traditional TV ads vs. streaming TV ads within the last year
• Where they get the majority of their TV programming from
• What types of shows they prefer to watch on TV (including sports)
• How much time they spend watching TV on a typical day

With this information, you’ll be able to make truly effective television ads.

When/​Where the Ads Will Air

You may be thinking it’s a bit late to incorporate a new ad strategy for your political client. But, historically speaking, you have until September before ads start spiking.

According to AdImpact, political ad spending tends to have its first big spike in September. And it just keeps going up through November.

And, of course, different states have different projected ad spending amounts. The states with top political ad spending are ones hosting Presidential elections along with important statewide races. The highest spenders are:

• California: $1.19 billion
• Arizona: $821 million
• Pennsylvania: $725 million
• Michigan: $659 million
• Nevada: $576 million
• New York: $437 million
• North Carolina: $435 million
• Ohio: $386 million
• Georgia: $383 million
• Florida: $383 million
• Wisconsin: $362 million

Of course, all states are important to advertise to. But if your client is targeting one listed, they’ll probably be more open to new television ads.

Photo by: Phillip Goldsberry