What to Know
Political advertisers in the United States spent more than $619 million on the two largest digital ad platforms between the beginning of 2023 and the end of August of this year, according to a first-of-its-kind analysis jointly conducted by the Brennan Center, OpenSecrets, and the Wesleyan Media Project.
By the Numbers
In the 2024 election cycle through the end of August, advertisers who spent at least $5,000 on Google and Meta bought $619 million in political ads, with at least $248 million focused on the presidential race.
Of spenders on Meta and Google known to advertise in support of a party, spending in favor of Democrats was more than three times the amount of spending for Republicans. Some Republican-aligned spending may have migrated to other platforms not included in this analysis, in part due to lack of public data.
Almost half the total, $281 million, came from spenders that may hide some or all of their donors.
Dig Deeper
The origins of much of the money funding online political advertising are not publicly known. As with other forms of electioneering, spenders can use “dark money” nonprofit organizations to keep their donors hidden. But there is even less transparency online than in other media due to a lack of regulation.
