Political Ad Spend Grows, But at Slower Pace Than Before: Brian Wieser

In an election year that is seeing two former presidents vying for the White House again, political advertising is still massive – but not growing at quite the same pace as before.

Political polarization in American society is limiting the number of persuadable voters. And, although fundraising has grown, it is not expanding at the rate it was during the first two decades of the century.

“This year we forecast about $15 billion of total political advertising spending in the US out of all media,” says Brian Wieser, Principal at Madison + Wall, in this video interview with Beet.TV. “That’s around 5% of the industry’s total, but it’s only up from about $14 billion in 2020.”

Digital Rises as Older Pols Age Out

Wieser says the mix of political ad spending, between TV and digital, depends on the profile of candidates.

“Older candidates tended to skew a lot of their spending towards television,” he says. “Younger candidates tended to skew their spending towards digital.”

But, as older politicians eventually age out of the process, Wieser expects the share of political ad spending going to digital to grow.

Nevertheless, he says: “Television remains disproportionately impactful, disproportionately important. The association with the trusted local news brands, especially in swing states is still critical.”

Fundraising Irritation is a Strategy

Wieser says political campaigns tend to use TV advertising to drive voter turnout, but digital advertising for fundraising with email is particularly effective.

“Whoever says that irritation isn’t a strategy, doesn’t study this market,” Wieser quips, referring to the large volume of fundraising emails many Americans now receive.

Wieser says uncertainty remains over exactly how much political ad spending patterns will change.

“In the current political environment, a lot of money doesn’t show up until the very end,” he says. “The campaigns are much broader than just the presidential election.”