When we started Cross Screen Media in 2017, the entire political video ad market was $2.2B. Digital video was only $300M.
Political was a relatively small, niche vertical within the much larger ad-spend ecosystem.
This cycle, we are consistently talking with the C-Suites of large, publicly traded advertising and ad tech companies about where and when political ad spend totals will land.
We’ve already crossed $5B with a lot more to come in the final 11 weeks.
Where this lands can make or break companies’ earnings reports.
What share of total U.S. advertising spend comes from political advertising?
7% of the total video ad market, but 11% of the Linear TV ad market.
Note: we removed the $1.9B in political ad spend from 2025.
How does political spend compare to market trends?
Political spending is especially important for Broadcast and Cable companies. A larger share of political spending goes to them than to the broader market.
11% of overall revenue is a big deal in earnings.
At the same time, the rest of the market is softening to these types of companies.
Time spent with Linear TV continues to erode, and Cable subscriptions continue to decline.
On top of that, there has been a shift at the Upfronts, the annual meetings in New York City where General Market advertisers reserve ad space for the coming year.
For the first time, the largest advertisers in the US reserved more streaming inventory than linear TV inventory, and total Linear TV reserves shrank.
How does this look to Wall Street?
Political ad spending has become a topic in earnings reports and calls. Political guidance helps shape the picture of where a company’s performance will end the year.
We looked at 2024 and estimated the amount of year-end revenue attributable to political ad spend for publicly traded companies.
For broadcast companies, 9-14% of their revenue came from political!
When did the Broadcast spend hit?
80%+ came in Q3 and Q4, in the lead-up to the general election.
How are we tracking in 2026?
Q2 2026 was larger than Q2 2024, but more in line with 2022. As we mentioned last week, midterm spending looks different than Presidential campaign spending.
What about digital?
Digital is highly fragmented. Political advertisers have many options for digital campaign technology and inventory. And the largest players, like YouTube and Meta, do not break out political spending separately.
Companies like The Trade Desk (see stock price) are easily replaced by political agencies when easier-to-use or more politically aligned buying options enter the market.
The real winners have been inventory aggregators like Magnite and PubMatic, which have given political advertisers an easy way to access premium streaming and digital inventory across screens and the ability to target audiences one-to-one. Both will likely see large increases in political revenue in 2026.
What does this mean for political advertisers?
Always follow the incentives. Keep your vendors' incentives in mind. They may be making a recommendation for their bottom line, not to benefit your campaign.
Follow audience viewership closely. If you have the same media mix as you did in 2024, you're likely buying inefficiently. Voters' habits have changed, so our media plans should, too.
Work with teams that understand politics. If your vendors' "political team" doesn't understand a vote goal, find a new vendor.