• by Wayne Friedman , August 18, 2021

U.S. political advertising spending in the 2022 midterm elections will near record totals of the U.S. presidential race -- getting to $8.9 billion, according to estimates from AdImpact -- with CTV political ads making big gains.

The media researcher estimates the 2020 presidential election period witnessed $9.02 billion in ad spend. Presidential election years are the biggest in terms of political spending.

The 2022 midterms will see a 130% increase in spend versus the midterms of 2018.

In addition, next year’s election will see connected TV spending make a major jump -- getting to $1.5 billion, in comparison to little-to-no measurable spend for the 2020 political season.

AdImpact says it has struck a deal with TVSquared, a TV ad measurement/attribution company, to offer real-time reach, frequency and incremental reach measures for political connected TV (CTV) ad campaigns.

For 2022, it estimates total broadcast to see $4.6 billion (down for $5.3 billion in 2020), while cable TV is forecast to hit $1.3 billion (from $1.6 billion in 2020); radio will see $220 million ($360 million in 2020); and digital media spend will reach $1.3 billion ($1.7 billion in 2020).

The company projects spending on Facebook and Google to hit $1.4 billion.

AdImpact says Senate races are estimated to total $2.4 billion, while down-ballot races are estimated to total $2.5 billion; governor races, $2.3 billion; and U.S. House races, $1.7 billion.

AdImpact reports on more than 1 million TV ad occurrence daily for 41,000 brands and advertisers for broadcast TV networks, local TV/radio stations, and cable networks, as well as digital media, CTV/OTT platforms.