The coronavirus pandemic has left much of the economy in peril, but political ads remain bullish and are expected to explode in the coming months.
A joint report this month from ad tracking firm Advertising Analytics and analytics company Cross Screen Media said 2020 political spending is on track to shatter records and reach a total of $6.7 billion this election cycle, which is up 12% from an initial prediction of $6 billion.
Part of the high is due to historic levels of primary spending, record-breaking fundraising, more digital video spending, and a lack of face-to-face campaign activity amid the pandemic that can free up budgets to spend more on paid media.
So far, $2.19 billion has been spent during the 2020 cycle, more than $1 billion from this point in time seen in the 2016 and 2018 election cycles.
In preparation for November, $443 million has already been reserved for the fall of 2020.
“In terms of political spend, (the coronavirus) has not impacted it negatively,” Kyle Roberts, president and CEO of Advertising Analytics, told Politico. “These dollars can’t be allocated to the ground game right now. That does open up more dollars … that are getting appropriated to the air war.”
Fourteen markets across the country are expected to exceed $100 million in ad revenue. The report projected Florida and North Carolina to each have two markets exceeding $100 million while Phoenix, Philadelphia, and Atlanta are predicted to hit more than $150 million. All three latter markets are expected to be battlegrounds for the presidential race.
