Spending Numbers
Here we are, barely four months from the November general election, and those who watch such things have revised their projections for political ad spending.
And, as you might expect, those projections were raised upward…by $500 million more than the group AdImpact had forecast.
The ad tracking firm says that while states with competitive presidential and U.S. Senate elections are still likely to get the highest amounts of dollars, some states could see more money because of ballot initiatives.
Colorado, Florida, Maryland, Nevada, New York, and South Dakota all have abortion initiatives on the ballot..and states including Arizona, Arkansas, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska and Pennsylvania are thinking about it.
Since Roe was overturned, states which had similar abortion-related ballot measures saw huge upticks in spending.
Those measures are part of “down-ballot” issues, essentially all spending not tied to the presidential race. While the presidential race will still dominate spending, “down-ballot” spending will account for about a third of all political spending this cycle.
Inside Radio says down-ballot races will see 10 percent more spending than originally forecast this year.
AdImpact says the 2024 political cycle will be the most expensive of all time, with a final total of $10.69 billion. By the way, here in Iowa, $193 million is forecast to be spent; note that the presidential race is not very competitive, and there is no U.S. Senate seat on the ballot…but there are four U.S. House seats being voted on, on November 5.
