By Adam R Jacobson
Updated projections for the 2023-2024 election cycle have been released by Adimpact, and it now expects election-related dollars to hit a record-breaking $10.7 billion in political ad spending. But, how much will Radio actually get?
That’s a question some may not like the answer to, even as Adimpact says this cycle is poised to be the most expensive to date, with increases in broadcast, cable, and Connected TV spending.
Through June 30, AdImpact detected more than 7,400 unique political TV ads, 700 more
than 2022 and 2.6K more than 2020 over the same period.
Translated to dollars, AdImpact projects $5.35 billion on “broadcast,” with $1.93 billion on cable, $1.51 billion on Connected TV, and $1.12 billion on digital. To be clear, “broadcast” means broadcast television.
That means just 3.56% of the “record-breaking” political ad dollars are poised to go to radio — $381 million, to be precise, AdImpact shows.
This compares to $102 million for satellite (Dish and DirecTV) and $309 million for network cable.
On the bright side, the $381 million is updated from an earlier forecast of some $360 million for Radio during this election cycle.
Radio is the public airwaves. RAB should work with the radio station groups to pass Federal legislation, whereby 20% (or whatever percentage) of political dollars MUST be spent on radio.
The only other public airwaves is broadcast TV. All the other media options are not public/licensed for everyone.
Money follows the ears. Ears are leaving.