What’s new in campaign ads? Asking for money to buy more ads and run them absolutely everywhere
What’s new in campaign ads? Asking for money to buy more ads and run them absolutely everywhere
More than a dozen states are holding primaries on this Super Tuesday. And when it comes to the presidential race — where candidates and outside groups have already raised more than $430 million — the democrats are ahead.
“We have Biden, who has raised a decent amount of money, but has spent essentially none of it,” said Sarah Bryner, research director at OpenSecrets, which tracks money in politics. “And it’s clear that his campaign is waiting for Trump to wrap up the primary so that they can go full bore against him with all of that money that they have raised.”
For races up and down the ballot, there is a newish trend this year, per Nicole Ovadia at BIA Advisory Services, which forecasts local media spending.
Rather than candidates spending the bulk of their money bashing other candidates, “what we’re seeing is a significant amount of money being spent on raising more money,” she said.
At this point, campaigns are running ads to help build their war chests for when they really get going after the primaries.
And that, Ovadia said, affects where campaigns run their ads. “You’re not very likely to see a political ad looking for fundraising in television, over the air. You’re much more likely to see that on social media and on digital. It does a better job of raising the money.”
What kind of ads you’ll see will depend on how the campaigns see you.
“If you’re just strong partisan, you’re gonna get a lot of fundraising and donation appeals,” said Erika Franklin Fowler, co-director of the Wesleyan Media Project. “If you are, you know, someone who the campaign see as persuadable, you’re going to be seeing a lot more persuasive appeal. And you should be expecting to see it, especially in those battleground states across the range of different platforms that you might view — you know, screens.”
In other words, whether on your TVs, gaming platform, streaming services and even at the gas pump, prepare for the deluge.
There’s a lot happening in the world. Through it all, Marketplace is here for you.
You rely on Marketplace to break down the world’s events and tell you how it affects you in a fact-based, approachable way. We rely on your financial support to keep making that possible.
Your donation today powers the independent journalism that you rely on. For just $5/month, you can help sustain Marketplace so we can keep reporting on the things that matter to you.
