Presidential Ad Spending in Minnesota

 Data from

                                
     
Spending on Presidential Advertising in Minnesota, May 1-Nov. 3, 2020      
Total $34.9 million 

Summary: The Trump campaign's decision to make a significant play for Minnesota was somewhat surprising.  Through August Trump and allies outspent Biden and allies, but by the second week of September the campaign started pulling back on spending, making steady cuts to the ad time it had earlier reserved.  Ultimately Biden and allies outspent Trump and allies in Minnesota by $22.9 million to $11.9 million or 1.9 times as much.  An unusually large share of ad spending on the Republican side, 69.5%, came from the campaign itself, suggesting that allied groups did not buy into the notion that the state was winnable. To put total spending in context, dividing the $34.9 million by 10 electoral votes gives a figure of $3.49 million per electoral vote; Biden and allies spent $2.29 million and Trump and allies $1.19 million per electoral vote. Dividing by 3,277,171 votes tallied in the presidential race in Minnesota gives a figure of $10.65 per vote; Biden and allies spent $13.36 per Biden vote and Trump and allies spent $8.05 per Trump vote.  A sample of ads run on evening newscasts on KSTP-5 ABC on Oct. 13, 2020 showed ads from the presidential race, the U.S. Senate race and several U.S. House races.

These data cover spending on advertising on electronic media (broadcast, cable, radio, digital and satellite) but do not include other types of paid media such as billboards, print advertising and persuasion mail.
Data on this page do not show "independent" ads which account for a tiny amount of spending (less than 0.1%).  "Independent" ads includes ads from third party presidential candidates and other small mostly digital buys from various groups.
 Also note that groups such as The Lincoln Project and Republican Voters Against Trump, although organized by Republicans and thus nominally Republican, are included under Democrat (Biden/Allies) spending since their purpose was to attack Trump.

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Presidential Ad Spending by Month, May 1-Nov. 3, 2020
_________________________

Presidential Ad Spending by Advertiser Type, May 1-Nov. 3, 2020

 Biden and Allies
 Trump and Allies
Candidate
 		$13,214,280
 $8,297,403
Coordinated
 		$1,590,650
 $1,867,306
Interest Group
 $8,135,218
 $1,774,953
Total
 		$22,940,148
 		$11,939,662


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Top Presidential Ad Spending Groups, May 1-Nov. 3, 2020
Supporting Biden  $8.1m

Supporting Trump  $1.8m
Future Forward  $6,522,730
Restoration PAC
 		 $1,323,197


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Presidential Ad Spending by Media Type, May 1-Nov. 3, 2020
Biden/Allies $22,940,148

Candidate
 Coordinated
 Interest Group
Broadcast
 		$8,611,459
 -
 $6,244,955
Cable
 		$2,071,309
 -
 $277,775
Radio
 		$889,405
 -
 $115,638
Digital
 		$1,092,598
 $1,590,650
 $1,362,946
Satellite
 		$549,509
 -
 $133,904
Total
 $13,214,280
 $1,590,650
 $8,135,218



Trump/Allies $11,939,662  

Candidate
 		Coordinated
 		Interest Group
Broadcast
 		$7,014,118
 -
 $1,354,650
Cable
 		-
 -
 $326,443
Radio
 		$68,958
 -
 $39,060
Digital
 		$1,183,490
 $1,867,306
 $54,800
Satellite
 		$30,837
 -
 -
Total
 $8,297,403
 $1,867,306
 $1,774,953


Of $34.9 million presidential ad spending in Minnesota, $23.2 million (66.5%) was on broadcast, $2.6 million (7.7%) on cable, $7.2 million (20.6%) on digital, $1.1 million (3.2%) on radio and $714,250 (2.0%) on satellite.  These data do not include other types of paid media such as billboards, print advertising and persuasion mail.


See:
Audrey Conklin.  "Trump slashes Minnesota ad spending another $1.1 million."  FOX Business, Oct. 16, 2020.

Briana Bierschbach.  "Trump campaign cuts back on ads in Minnesota."  Star Tribune, Oct. 8, 2020.

Theo Keith.  "Trump campaign slashes TV ads in Minnesota, trails in polls."  FOX 9, Oct. 6, 2020.

David Catanese.  "Trump set to spend more on ads in Minnesota than Michigan or Wisconsin  in 2020 homestretch."  McClatchy, Sept. 8, 2020.