Nearly $1 billion spent on political advertising in 2019

Nearly $1 billion was spent on political advertising in 2019, according to new figures from ad-tracking firm Advertising Analytics.

Of the $998.4 million spent on political advertising, $351 million was spent on the presidential primaries, the firm said on Friday.

Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg was the biggest spender, buying about $124 million in ads since joining the Democratic presidential race last month.

Advertising Analytics CEO Kyle Roberts said in an interview with The Hill that it’s unusual to have these kinds of spending levels at this point heading into a presidential election year. He added that even without Bloomberg the dollar amounts are “still higher” than the 2016 primary.

“You have more low dollar donors consistently giving over a period of time, which results in larger overall dollars raised,” he said.

Businessman Tom Steyer was second behind Bloomberg, purchasing nearly $84 million in ads.

Trump Make America Great Again Committee had spent more than $23 million, and the Trump campaign spent nearly $14 million.

Other top advertising spenders included the Buttigieg, Sanders and Warren campaigns, which spent nearly $20 million, nearly $18 million and nearly $12 million respectively. 

Politico reported this week that businessman Tom Steyer was second behind Bloomberg, purchasing $83 million in ads.

For 2019, the top overall market was Washington, D.C., where $485 million was spent on political advertising.

Advertising Analytics predicted that $6 billion will be spent in political ads during the 2020 cycle.

Updated: 9:12 p.m.