• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, July 10, 2023

Half-way through the off-year leading into the next presidential political media-buying cycle, the 2024 race already has spent twice as much as the 2020 cycle-to-date, according to an analysis released Friday by political and general market ad spending database analyst AdImpact.

The $480.2 million spent through July 7, 2023, is 99.6% more than what was spent through the same point in 2019, according to the analysis depicted above.

And while voters in most of the country may not realize it, presidential primary ad spending has already begun heating up, albeit for Republican party aspirants, especially frontrunners including the twice-impeached former president, and his chief rival Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.

"The newest candidate to become involved in presidential ad spending is Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, who announced his bid on June 15th," AdImpact's political media-buying analysts wrote, noting that Suarez’s political action committee "SOS America PAC," has spent $875,000 on cable across multiple states, including Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, South Carolina and Florida, as well as becoming the first presidential candidate to advertise on TV in Texas, where the PAC has spent $10,000 to date.

"Donald Trump is still leading presidential ad spending with $20.2 million, while DeSantis trails behind by $5 million," they note, adding, "Tim Scott and Doug Burgum are also top spenders in the race with a combined total of $15.1 million.

"GOP candidates and PACs have focused on spending in the primary states of Iowa and New Hampshire, and have also spent over $22 milllion on network cable."