Another forecast of political ad spending for the 2022 midterm elections has the amount surpassing the totals from the 2020 presidential election. PQ Media says political advertising will reach $10.20 billion in 2022, up from $10.14 billion in 2020. Additionally, the 2022 figures are 51.1% higher than the $6.76 billion spent during the 2018 midterm elections, according to the new forecast.
PQ Media’s forecast follows AdImpact’s report that political advertising for the 2022 midterm elections has already eclipsed 2020 non-Presidential ad spending, with $6.15 billion on the books so far. AdImpact also said that political ad spending this year is an increase of 56.6% over the last midterm elections in 2018. And the latest forecast from Kantar/CMAG is for $9 billion. That number equals the amount spent during 2020's Presidential race and includes local broadcast, local cable/satellite, radio, Facebook, Google and over the top (OTT) TV.
Senate Races Command Largest Share
PQ Media says that Senate races represent the largest share of political advertising this year at 34.7% or $3.54 billion. House races will generate $2.79 billion in ads, gubernatorial elections $2.43 billion, local/down-ballot races $784 million, and referendums $657 million.
PQ Media Executive VP/Director Leo Kivijarv says in a RAB blog post that radio, including podcasts, is ranked fifth among media platforms based on the share of election ad spend they will receive and has the potential to rake in $644 million this year.
Additionally, political advertising on radio will increase 29% this year when compared to 2018. Radio ranks 11th among the 14 media platforms used by politicians in ad spend growth since the previous mid-terms, exceeding the growth rate of other traditional media platforms like direct mail and newspapers, according to PQ Media.
Podcasting will help fuel the increase, thanks to the access the medium provides to younger independent voters, while broadcast radio is often used to motivate party loyalists to vote – particularly with ads targeting older listeners of conservative talk radio. Ads placed on rock, R&B, and Hispanic-formatted stations are usually paired with podcast ads in an effort to get younger Democratic and independent voters to register to vote.