President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign is breaking with tradition by launching a $25 million, 16-week advertising campaign more than a year before the election. Targeted primarily at swing-state voters, this move comes as recent polls indicate that about 75% of Americans have serious concerns about Biden’s competence. The early ad spend reflects the campaign’s strategy to enhance Biden’s image and reach voters across diverse platforms.
In an interview with The Washington Post, Democratic ad-maker John Del Cecato described the strategy as a “gamble worth making” to improve Biden’s approval ratings. Julie Chavez Rodriguez, Biden’s campaign manager, stated that investing early and aggressively across platforms to reach the general election audience is crucial for a win in November 2024.
AdImpact reveals that political ad spending for the 2024 cycle has already reached $652 million, marking a 75% increase compared to the same point in the last presidential campaign.
Television broadcasters are poised to be the biggest beneficiaries of the anticipated record-breaking political advertising spending in the 2024 election cycle. According to new projections from AdImpact, political ad spending is estimated to reach $10.2 billion, with local television stations expected to secure half of that amount, or $5.1 billion. Meanwhile, radio is slated to account for $400 million of the overall ad spend.
This breakdown at 3.9% for radio is more pessimistic than BIA’s recent political forecast, which put radio’s percentage at around 5.4%.
