Political ad spending for the 2026 election cycle is projected to reach $10.8 billion , making it the most expensive midterm election in U.S. history. With Election Day one month closer, the amount spent has now crossed another milestone. AdImpact says $2.01 billion has been spent through Jan. 30, which is a 46% increase vs. what was spent at this point during the 2022 midterm cycle. The year got off to an active start. The ad tracking firm says it recorded $121.6 million wor

January brought rebounding reach and download numbers for a majority of publishers that Podtrac measures, a typical post-holiday season phenomenon. It reports that 14 of the top 18 posted month-to-month increases in unique users last month, while 12 had more downloads in January than December. The top spot was again held by iHeartPodcasts and its related ad network, which was among those that posted month-over-month growth. Podtrac says iHeartPodcasts had 170 million download

The new year bounce back returned in January, as creators debuted 14,712 new podcasts last month. The podcast search engine and database Listen Notes says that is 1,500 more than it rolled out in November as the year-end holiday season typically delays show launches to the new year. The January list of new shows is, however, much shorter than what debuted a year earlier when Listen Notes reported 20,407 shows launched. But there is no shortage of new content to consume. More

Consumer spending on Valentine’s Day is expected to remain strong in 2026, even as a notable share of shoppers’ report cutting back on gift purchases amid rising costs. Nearly 23% of consumers said they have reduced or stopped buying gifts over the past 12 months to save money, according to a new survey from e-commerce marketing company Omnisend . The pullback includes spending on holidays such as Valentine’s Day. Despite the cutbacks, overall online spending continues to ris