State races have been a boon to media giants as total political ad spending, by one estimate, will surpass $8.8 billion this year — that number was $3.9 billion in 2018.
Marketing analytics firm Cross Screen Media had been projecting a bullish $8.8 billion in advertising buys for the 2022 midterms . “From where we are at today, we are ahead of that [$8.8 billion] pace,” Cross Screen Media CEOsays. “It’s going to double 2018. We are at 128 percent growth right now; it’ll clobber [2018].”
said during a May 19 conference hosted by the research firm MoffettNathanson. “There is a lot of money chasing politics right now.”And nowhere is that clearer than with broadcast TV, which has seen its viewership ratings tumble double digits annually for years. But with a need to reach all voters in a geographic area, whether they are cord-cutters or loyal local TV watchers, campaigns are spending freely.
Fox Corp. saw a record $180 million in political advertising spending in the previous midterm election and expects to surpass that this year. “From what we’ve already seen with spending in the primaries, we expect this midterm election to blow through that $180 million record in revenue pretty significantly, pretty substantially,” Fox CEONexstar Media Group, which has 200 broadcast stations across the U.S., reported political advertising revenue of $23.
But as hot as the market is for TV and media companies, it can be bleak for consumers, who find themselves bombarded by more campaign ads than ever, from more backers with more cash than ever. It’s a tidal wave of attack ads, which helps explain why Gallup’s latest annual survey of trust in institutions — from political leaders to the media to big business — shows all of them at historic lows.