{"id":4275807,"date":"2024-10-31T20:05:16","date_gmt":"2024-10-31T18:05:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.deptagency.com\/insight\/impact-political-ads-media-during-us-election\/"},"modified":"2025-11-26T16:38:34","modified_gmt":"2025-11-26T14:38:34","slug":"impact-political-ads-media-during-us-election","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/www.deptagency.com\/en-au\/insight\/impact-political-ads-media-during-us-election\/","title":{"rendered":"The impact of political ads on media during the US election run-up"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\t\n\t<\/svg>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tBack to all articles\t\t<\/span>\n\t\n<\/button>\n\t\tThe impact of political ads on media during the US election run-up\t<\/h1>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t<\/picture>\n\t\n\t<\/div>
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\n\t\tMadison Brown\t\t
\n\t\tSenior Associate, Integrated Media Strategy & Planning\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\tDate\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t31 October 2024\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n\t\n\t\tThe 2024 US election is shaping up to be one of, if not the most, <\/em>expensive elections in history, with a projected ad spend of at least $15.9 billion<\/a>. TBD on whether this surpasses the 2020 election, during which Michael Bloomberg famously spent over one billion of his fortune\u2014before dropping out one month later.\u00a0

While this massive cash injection has no doubt impacted ad platforms, brand campaigns, and ad fatigue, we still have some questions.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0

Like, what\u2019s the percentage of political ads versus other ads right now? What platforms are these social-media-savvy marketers investing in?\u00a0\u00a0

And when will it end?\u00a0<\/em>\t<\/p><\/div>\n\n
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\n\t\t\n\t\tDeciphering the data around the 2024 elections\t<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\tOur performance marketing<\/a> teams have been keeping tabs on the election and media spending since January 2024, hoping to maximize return on ad spend for our clients. We’ve noticed some interesting trends by monitoring client performance dashboards, Pathmatics<\/a>, and other third-party tools.\u00a0\u00a0\t<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n\n
\n\t\t 1. Political spending is impacting overall platform spending, but later than we anticipated.\u00a0<\/strong>

Political ads did not bump up overall platform spending until the week of September 29th (give or take a day). This was a bit surprising because we figured we\u2019d see an impact earlier. Whether political advertisers are getting the last word or hoping to influence open polls, most of the action has occurred in October.\u00a0

The platforms with the biggest impact? YouTube and Facebook, with a slight increase in desktop display video.\u00a0

2.<\/strong> Political campaigns have doubled down on YouTube\u00a0<\/strong>

In July, August, and September, distribution was relatively even across YouTube, Meta, OTT, and programmatic spending. However, political advertisers are now prioritizing YouTube over every other platform. For context, in the second half of October, political parties spent well over $2.5M per day <\/em>on YouTube. For Meta, it\u2019s closer to $1M per day.\u00a0\u00a0

3. And that means roughly 8% of all ads on YouTube are political\u00a0<\/strong>

Between September 24th and October 23rd, over 83 million dollars were poured into the political category on YouTube, representing about 8.3% of all ads on the platform. To compare, only 1.65% and 1.37% of ads are political on Facebook and Instagram, respectively.\u00a0

4.<\/strong> Top audience targets include gamblers, gamers, and sports fans<\/strong>

It’s no surprise that consumers 18-45 are the primary focus of political ads, as they represent 49.1% of the US population. But it is perhaps surprising that political advertisers have been targeting gamblers, sports fans, digital socialites, and PC gamers 2.5-3.5 times more than other groups.\u00a0

5. Ads in Pennsylvania exceed $300M\u00a0<\/strong>

In the top swing state of Pennsylvania, voters are getting bombarded with ads. Both presidential candidates, senate candidates, and Political Action Committees (PACs) are all prioritizing Pennsylvania. This is impacting the cost per million (CPMs) for brands attempting to advertise in the state and will continue to increase dramatically until November 5.\u00a0

6. Spend is still revving up\u00a0<\/strong>

While it may seem like the election is winding down, political advertisers are revving up. As we head into the first week of November, we expect spending to continue to increase before the massive dropoff on the 6th.\u00a0

7. Three safe havens\u00a0<\/strong>

Safe havens\u2014platforms with the least political investments\u2014include TikTok (where political ads are banned), Snapchat, and Pinterest. You can rest assured these platforms will be safe from political investment through election day.\u00a0\u00a0\t<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\n\t