Political advertising spend in sports programming will triple its previous revenue levels for these midterm elections, according to local video advertising-sales company Viamedia.
Across linear
cable and related digital networks, political ad spending within sports programming grew 170% in 2020 versus 2018, the company says.
Sports programming on ESPN
leads in political advertising, Viamedia says -- as well as sports programming on cable networks including TBS, TNT, USA Network, ESPN2, FX, FS1, NFL Network, and CBS Sports Network, among others.
Major League Baseball in particular has more than tripled its political advertising business in 2022 versus during the previous midterm elections in 2018, according to Viamedia data.
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Viamedia operates in 28 states across more than 60 U.S. markets for more than 6,000 local, regional, and national advertisers.
Kantar had estimated local TV could reach $5.5 billion --
another new record -- for political advertising this year.
Local TV stations' newscasts typically get a major share of political advertising spend.
AdImpact projected the overall 2022
midterm election period would see $9.67 billion in political ad spend -- and of that, $1.4 billion could go to connected TV platforms.