• by Wayne Friedman , August 25, 2023

Ramping up national TV advertising around recent political news -- the recent Republican Presidential Primary Debate, candidates' appearances at the Iowa State Fair and the indictments of the former president, super PAC (political action committee) groups spiked ad spending over the last 60 days.

For the last seven weeks, national TV political advertising has climbed to $3.7 million -- a total of 952 airings amassing 975.4 million impressions, according to estimates from EDO Ad EnGage.

On the day of the GOP debate, Wednesday, August 23, media buying from super PACs (Political Action Committees) rose to 50 million impressions -- from 3.1 million on July 2

Future Forward USA Action -- a Super PAC backing President Biden -- has spent $768,550 over the period, while American Edge Project, which focuses on freedom for technology-focused companies, has spent $754,950 and Make America Great Again, Donald Trump’s super PAC, has spent $848,370.

Two TV networks gained the most over that period: Fox News Channel ($2.01 million, 353 airings) and CNN ($1.14 million, 351 airings).

Fox News Channel aired the GOP debate.

This year, a 30-day period in the spring witnessed  high spending levels from April 15 through May 15, when political advertisers spent $4.9 million on 1,010 airings, getting 1.1 billion impressions.

This was largely from two super PAC groups -- Make America Great Again Inc, which spent $2 million and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis super PAC (Never Back Down), at $1.4 million.