Political Ad Spending Hits The Accelerator In August.

While plenty about the U.S. presidential campaign remains in flux, two things are clear: the amount of money being raised by politicians of both parties is mushrooming, and the pace of ad spending is picking up steam. That’s according to AdImpact, which says it tracked $272.2 million in political advertising over the last two weeks — nearly two-thirds more than the $165.8 million the prior two weeks.

With fewer than 100 days until Election Day, the political ad market is expected to become even more active in the coming weeks.

AdImpact’s data shows that the most money was spent in the St. Louis market ahead of the Aug. 6 Missouri primary. But swing state politics aren’t hard to miss. AdImpact says the second-biggest ad spending total of the past two weeks was in Philadelphia, where it tracked $16.3 million in ad buys. Phoenix ($12.3 million) ranked third.

The name at the top of the Democratic presidential ticket may have changed, but just like President Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris — the party’s presumptive nominee — outspent every other candidate for office in the past two weeks. AdImpact calculates she spent $20.8 million. The Democratic Party-aligned super PAC Future Forward USA ranked second, with $16.4 million in spending. The super PAC backing former President Trump, MAGA Inc., came in third, with $14.3 million in spending, according to AdImpact’s data.

The Future Forward PAC has been ramping up pro-Harris spending in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Georgia, Arizona, and Nevada, with $32.9 million in additional ad buys placed. At the same time, MAGA Inc. has been solidifying its pro-Trump ad schedule with $20.9 million in new ad placements in Arizona, Georgia, and Pennsylvania. Based on current ad reservations, AdImpact says the Harris ads set to air total $175.4 million vs. $112.7 million in Trump ad support.

Adding fuel to the political ad fire is fundraising, and there is no shortage of that. Campaign totals change quickly, but the latest data shows the Biden-turned-Harris campaign raised $310 million in July to bring its total to more than $1 billion to date. Two-thirds of the July total came from first-time donors, and the campaign said a majority of the total was raised from donations of $200 or less.

Trump raised $137 million after outraising Biden in June. The former President entered August with $327 million cash on hand vs. $377 million for the Vice President.

The acceleration in spending has widened the gap with the previous presidential election cycle. In 2020, ad spending at this point totaled $2.97 billion. This year, AdImpact says it has tracked $3.64 billion in spending.

Even though some general election voting will start next month, the primary season is not over. Missouri will have one of the last primaries this week, and it has resulted in $84.1 million in primary ads so far this year, based on AdImpact data. Only California ($115 million) and Texas ($83.9 million) have seen more spending during their primaries.

A big reason is Missouri is one of a handful of states that will hold a gubernatorial election this year. As a result, $25.8 million worth of ads have been bought in the GOP primary race as current Lt. Gov. Mike Kehoe squares off against current Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft, and State Sen. Bill Eigel, among others.

On the Democratic side, House Minority Leader Crystal Quade and businessman Mike Hamra are the leading contenders heading into the primary vote.

But AdImpact points out that Missouri ad spending has gone beyond the governor’s race. It says ads in a congressional primary have added up to $17.9 million so far, and the race to become Missouri’s next Attorney General has produced $16.6 million in ad buys.

AdImpact has revised its political ad spending projections upwards from $10.2 billion to a predicted record-breaking $10.69 billion. If that figure proves accurate, it would be a 19% increase from the $9.02 billion spent during the 2020 cycle. The ad tracking firm predicts radio’s share of spending this cycle will be 3.5%, adding up to about $381 million.