Presidential Ad Spending in Pennsylvania

 Data from

                                
     
Spending on Presidential Advertising
in Pennsylvania, May 1-Nov. 3, 2020
     
Total $268.4 million

Summary: $268.4 million put Pennsylvania at the second of all the states in total spending on presidential advertising over the six-month period.  Biden and allies outspent Trump and allies in the Keystone State by $86.0 million (94.4% more).  The Biden campaign by itself spent $85.8 million on advertising to $30.0 million by the Trump campaign (2.86 times more).  Ad spending by outside groups was more evenly balanced, $85.1 million supporting Biden compared to $55.0 million supporting Trump.  Eight groups spent more than $1 million on advertising supporting Biden, led by Future Forward ($28.1 million), American Bridge 21st Century ($22.4 million) and Priorities USA Action ($11.2 million).  By contrast five groups weighed in with more than $1 million for ads supporting Trump, led by America First Action ($33.7 million) and Preserve America PAC ($9.5 million).  Spending in the last month totaled about $130 million.  To put total spending in context, dividing $268.4 million total ad spending by 20 electoral votes gives a figure of $13.42 million per electoral vote; Biden and allies spent $8.85 million and Trump and allies $4.55 million per electoral vote.  Dividing by 6,915,283 votes tallied in the presidential race gives $38.81 per vote; Biden and allies spent $51.17 per Biden vote and Trump and allies spent $26.96 per Trump vote.

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

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

Biden and Allies
Trump and Allies
Candidate
$85,779,103
$29,975,893
Coordinated
$6,165,911
$6,056,044
Interest Group
$85,127,120
$55,032,808
Total
$177,072,134
$91,064,745


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Top Presidential Ad Spending Groups, May 1-Nov. 3, 2020
Supporting Biden  $85.1m

Supporting Trump  $55.0m

Future Forward
 $28,100,279

America First Action
$33,714,725
American Bridge 21st Century
$22,360,137

Preserve America PAC
$9,481,018
Priorities USA Action
$11,247,482

Restoration PAC
$4,793,139
DNC
$5,521,474

Club for Growth Action
$2,928,646
Unite the Country
$5,294,185

NRA Victory Fund
$2,483,626
The Lincoln Project
$2,499,298



Defending Democracy Together
$1,316,543



Tech for Campaigns
$1,042,478



Note: DNC spending in this list is independent spending, as opposed to coordinated expenditures.

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


Biden/Allies $177,072,134

Candidate
Coordinated
Interest Group
Broadcast
$56,938,937
$1,669,785
$60,262,112
Cable
$17,342,229
$425,846
$11,422,766
Radio
$4,012,956
-
$4,460,263
Digital
$6,187,930
$4,070,280
$8,568,543
Satellite
$1,297,051
-
$393,436
Total
$85,779,103
$6,165,911
$85,127,120



Trump/Allies $91,064,745

Candidate
Coordinated
Interest Group
Broadcast
$22,883,529
$1,803,540
$43,355,245
Cable
$2,473,986
-
$8,805,855
Radio
$218,403
-
$989,108
Digital
$4,250,742
$4,252,504
$1,557,874
Satellite
$199,233
-
$324,726
Total
$29,975,893
$6,056,044
$55,032,808

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Spending on Broadcast by Presidential Committees by Media Market, May 1-Nov. 3, 2020

Biden for Pres.

Trump for Pres.

Philadelphia
$23,625,790
41.49%
$9,240,654
40.47%
Pittsburgh
$11,666,872
20.49%
$4,456,232 19.52%
Harrisburg-Lancaster-
Lebanon-York
$10,175,574
17.87%
$4,642,732
20.33%
Johnstown-Altoona
$4,852,625
8.52%
$2,229,595
9.76%
Wilkes Barre-Scranton
$4,308,505
7.57%
$1,414,635
6.20%
Erie
$2,306,510
4.05%
$849,681
3.72%
Wheeling, WV-
Steubenville, OH
$3,060




$56,938,937
100%
$22,833,529
100%
Looking at spending on broadcast TV by the just the presidential campaigns (not including allied groups) the pattern is fairly similar for the two campaign.  About 40 percent went into the Philadelphia market and 20 percent to the Pittsburgh market, a bit more for Biden for President and a bit less for Donald J. Trump for President.  Trump spent a greater share of his broadcast dollar on the Harrisburg-Lancaster-Lebanon-York and Johnstown-Altoona markets than did Biden whereas Biden put a greater share into the Wilkes-Barre-Scranton marke that did Trump.

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Of $268.4 million presidential ad spending in Pennsylvania, $186.9 million (69.6%) was on broadcast, $40.5 million (15.1%) on cable, $28.9 million (10.8%) on digital, $9.7 million (3.6%) on radio and $2.2 million (0.83%) on satellite. 

Comparing ad spending by just the two campaigns...
Biden: Broadcast (66.4%), cable (20.2%), radio (4.7%), digital (7.2%), satellite (1.5%).
Trump: Broadcast (76.3%), cable (8.3%), radio (0.73%), digital (14.2%), satellite (0.66%).


As noted above, these data do not include other types of paid media such as billboards, print advertising and persuasion mail.



See:
Laura Benshoff.  "Trump dominated Facebook in 2016. In 2020, Biden is outspending him in PA."  WHYY, Oct. 27, 2020.

Lauren Rosenblatt.  "Presidential campaigns' ads swamp TV, radio, digital sphere in battleground Pa."  Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Oct. 26, 2020.

Marc Levy.  "Trump intensifies fracking assault on Biden in Pennsylvania."  AP, Oct. 25, 2020.

Gillian McGoldrick  "Ephrata Army veteran featured in national Biden commercial."  LancasterOnline, Oct. 22, 2020.

Connor Lagore.  "Biden-Harris ads deluge Pa. TV market as mud-slinging spots dominate airwaves."  lehighvalleylive.com, Oct. 19, 2020.

John Micek.  "In new ad featuring a New Castle family, Biden makes pitch to Pa.'s Trump Country voters."  Pittsburgh City Paper, Sept. 17, 2020.

Andrew Seidman.  "Biden outspent Trump $10 million to zero on TV in Pennsylvania last month."  Philadelphia Inquirer, Sept. 8, 2020.

See also:
Ron Southwick.  "Republican Voters Against Trump ramps up ads in Pa. with billboards, TV spots."  Patriot-News, Sept. 11, 2020.

Newspaper ad

Three-quarter page
New Pittsburgh Courier
Oct. 28, 2020