2024 Political Ad Statistics: Election Season is Underway

Welcome to the Madhive Political Pulse, our content series that focuses on the key CTV insights affecting this year’s elections. 

This issue gives an overview of the 2024 political advertising landscape and offers a variety of political ad statistics — like the most hotly contested races, seats up for grabs, campaign spending, and more.

500+ seats up for grabs 

In addition to the president, voters will elect hundreds of other key government officials on November 5, 2024.

Mayoral races in major cities

The 2024 election cycle also includes mayoral races in major cities, such as:

Candidates will spend billions on campaigns

The 2024 election cycle is expected to be the most expensive of all time, with estimates ranging from $10B to $16B.

Madhive recently launched a marketplace for local CTV buyers to combat fragmentation, streamline activation and navigate inventory scarcity for the 2024 election season. Read more details here.

Swing states will be essential for the presidential election

The presidential race is expected to generate $2.5B in ad spend. More than 75% of projected spending on that race will be concentrated in seven swing states.

Other contested races and markets to watch

Some states will be seeing more action this year than others, with hotly contested Senate, House, and Gubernatorial races.

Local TV will see a sizable chunk of media spend

With so many local races, local TV will reap significant political profits in 2024. CTV, which offers hyper-local targeting, will see a 33% increase in spend over 2022.

Reach voters more granularly on CTV

Compared to traditional linear TV, CTV offers much more comprehensive data to drive successful political ad campaigns, including: tools for planning, targeting, activation and measurement against a variety of full-funnel performance indicators. This is all while ensuring consumer privacy including:

Data:

Measurement:

Emerging 2024 trends

As the 2024 election season unfolds, we’re closely monitoring the trends in impressions and the effect on supply, including impact on CPMs. We expect impressions to follow a pattern similar to 2022, with most occurring in October and early November.

CPMs will likely increase through March, then cool throughout the summer. Expect a spike just before elections as candidates vie for last minute buys.

Reach more 2024 voters with CTV

CTV will play a decisive role in reaching voters this election season—but don’t wait until the last minute. 

Get started with Madhive today to bring hyper-targeted CTV advertising to your political advertisers.