As expected, political ad spend this year has been extremely high, and there’s no sign of it slowing down in the final two months.

Nationally, BIA forecasts that TV Over-The-Air (OTA) will reach $3.8 billion by the end of the 2022 cycle. We also predict there is still significant headroom for growth in the final months leading up to the November elections.

The second largest political ad platform is digital media, where we estimate nearly $2 billion in spending, followed by MVPD (Cable) with over $1 billion in expected spending.

To provide BIA clients with the best possible insights into the dynamics of the 2022 political cycle, we are working with AdImpact, a firm well-respected for its political media intelligence. Together with BIA’s forecasting team, we are examining ad spend from many different angles to provide deeper knowledge of the local political ad market.

One of the benefits of the BIA-AdImpact data collaboration is that AdImpact provides granular political spending at the monthly level for each of the 210 local television markets. Let’s look at a market in a state many people are watching closely – Erie, PA.

The AdImpact analysis of political spending data (shown below) for Erie, PA, displays monthly and cumulative TV OTA and MVPD (Cable) political ad spending. Through July 2022 TV OTA and Cable had almost reached a combined $4 million.

These political spending charts offer predictors of final spending across TV OTA and Cable. Updated monthly, they are available in BIA ADVantage for each of the 210 local television markets. We will be posting August spending in mid-September.

To keep a close watch on political ad spend this fall, this post is the first in a series we are planning. Please stay tuned!

For more information about BIA and AdImpact political spending intelligence, email BIA to discuss how we can help you capitalize on all the spending in your market for political and 96+ other leading business verticals.