The 2026 Midterms Just Set an Advertising Record — in a Year Without a President on the Ballot
Ad-tracking firm AdImpact put 2025-26 political ad spending and reservations at a record $11.21bn — narrowly above the $11.20bn of the 2023-24 presidential cycle and more than $2.3bn ahead of the last midterms ($8.9bn) — proof that even a 'quieter' election now floods the same attention marketers are trying to buy.
The numbers
Per AdImpact figures reported by TheWrap, broadcast TV still took the largest share (roughly 48-51% of spending), connected TV about 23% (around $2.7bn), and digital platforms around 15%. Senate advertising alone was forecast near $3.4bn and gubernatorial races around $2.4bn. Crucially, this is a midterm — no presidential campaign on the ballot — yet it out-spent the last presidential year.
For any brand buying attention in US markets, that matters, because political money doesn't stay in its own lane.
Marketing Minute's read: the air you breathe just got more expensive
A record political flood tightens inventory and lifts prices across TV, CTV and digital in the run-up to an election — the clearing price of attention rises for everyone. Brands that plan media as if political spend is someone else's problem get surprised by higher CPMs and lower share of voice in Q3 and Q4 of an election year.
The practical move is calendar-awareness: pull brand-building forward or push it past the political peak, lean harder on owned channels (email, community, search) when paid gets crowded and costly, and treat an election autumn as a known, recurring inflation event in the media plan rather than a surprise.
Political advertising doesn't stay in its own lane — when campaigns pour a record eleven billion into the same screens you're buying, your costs rise and your share of voice falls, president on the ballot or not. Smart brands plan their media calendar around the election, not in spite of it. — Daniel Nikolla, Founder of Merx Marketing
Record political ad spend inflates the price of attention for every advertiser — treat election autumn as a known media-cost spike and plan brand-building and owned channels around it.
Does your media plan account for the election-year ad-cost spike — or does it hit your CPMs by surprise every cycle?
If you would like to know more about this topic, please contact us on danieln@merxmarketing.co.uk
Sources: AdImpact via TheWrap (A.J. Katz, 27 Oct 2026), Wesleyan Media Project.
Written by Daniel Nikolla, Founder of Merx Marketing Ltd and Marketing Minute
