Midterm political spend hits records, and CTV and streaming soak it up

Political advertising is on track for a record $11.6 billion midterm cycle, per AdImpact, against $8.9 billion in the 2022 midterms and even the 2024 presidential cycle's $11.2 billion. The channel mix is the story: $5.6 billion on broadcast, $2.6 billion on CTV, $1.6 billion on digital, $1.4 billion on cable, and by race $3.4 billion on the Senate and $2.4 billion on gubernatorial contests. "This is going to be a record setting midterm," said Jesse Contario, regional VP, southeast and political at MiQ, who noted October is the heaviest month at 46% of all political CTV spend, half of it on ad-supported streaming. The loser is linear TV: Todd Novick, VP political at AI Digital, cited "rising rates, complications due to displacement, makegoods which nobody's a fan of, lack of inventory, and then an already complex rate structure on linear television that is governed by the FCC." Brian Conlan, president of DAX US, says political podcast spend is already up 42% year over year, and audio reaches 81% of voting-age Americans daily. The wild card is generative engine optimization: Jonathan Frohlinger, CEO of Big Happy, called GEO "a similar parallel of how Obama used social back in '08."

The crux

A record political windfall is flowing disproportionately to CTV, streaming and digital audio, not linear, confirming a structural shift that will outlast election day and permanently re-tier which publishers capture political demand.

Sell-side read

The near-term opportunity is obvious and expiring, but the durable takeaway is that political money now follows the same flight to streaming and addressability as brand money. Publishers and broadcasters without a CTV or streaming offer are missing the single largest cash event of the cycle.

Watch

Final-cycle numbers once votes are counted, and whether the linear-to-CTV shift in political spend holds into the 2028 cycle as a permanent baseline.