Candidates in the 2020 presidential race have spent six times more on digital media than on TV ads since the beginning of the year. That’s the finding of a new study by the Wesleyan Media Project at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut.
The Wesleyan Media Project finds that the presidential contenders have spent nearly $61 million on ads on Facebook and Google since January. That’s compared to only $11 million on television ads over the same period. The top spender is President Donald Trump.
Michael Franz, one of the study’s directors, says Trump has plowed $16 million into digital marketing to be in touch with his supporters.
“Staying in front of them not only with his tweets, and obviously by being the president, but in their social media feeds and through their Google searches and YouTube videos, he is appearing kind of everywhere. And this strategy is something that Trump is sort of doing in order to keep his message spread to as many people as possible, and keep himself at the top of the list of spenders.”
Trump is spending about three times more than California billionaire Tom Steyer, the top Democratic spender. Other big Democratic spenders are Pete Buttigieg, Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders.
