WASHINGTON, D.C. — With the U.S. presidential campaign now focused on the current Commander-in-Chief versus the most recent White House resident, some media industry observers began to question if the political ad-dollar windfall previously anticipated would see a decline.
New data from BIA suggest that down-ballot and issues-oriented advertising will be robust, leading to double-digit growth political spending in 2024.
Political spending in 2024 is forecast to be $11.1 billion, BIA shares.
This is up 24% over 2022, with $2.2 billion more anticipated, and 15.5% higher than in 2020, with $1.5 billion more expected.
To little surprise, Political will be the top spending vertical category in 2024 for many of the media channels in BIA’s forecast — including broadcast television, digital TV, Cable TV, broadcast radio and Connected TV/OTT platforms.
While local ad spending on digital is growing, traditional advertising is forecast to account for 70.2% of political ad spend in 2024. That’s down from 77.9% in 2020, BIA notes.
As with past presidential elections, in 2024 over-the-air TV will get the largest share of political ad dollars in local, with an estimated $4.6 billion in forecast spending. Add in TV Digital, and the number rises to $4.9 billion.
PC/Laptop will be the second highest at $1.3 billion, followed by Cable TV at $1.1 billion. Cable TV is the only media channel forecast to be down from 2020 in this category, by nearly $183 million.
