Spending on political ads for 2022 races is set to exceed the amount spent in 2020 and more than double the total from 2018, according to a report from AdImpact.
In July 2021, AdImpact projected that candidates, PACs, and issue groups would spend $8.9 billion on ads for the 2022 cycle, just shy of the record-breaking $9 billion spent in 2020. A year later, AdImpact revised that number upward to $9.7 billion, projecting that 2022 would be the most expensive election cycle in U.S. history. Ad spending in 2018 fell just short of $4 billion.
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