The 2024 Paris Summer Olympics were a smashing success, not just from a hefty US medal haul but from a ratings perspective as well- outpacing Tokyo 2021 by a whopping 82%. MediaRadar CMAG parsed through the data to determine how both Democrat and Republican media buyers reacted to this opportunity to get their messages in front of millions of potential voters.
Taking into account local broadcast, national cable, and national network buys we can report a total of just over $50M spent on presidential ads during Olympics programming from July 26th through August 11th. Across both parties, we tracked a total of 31 unique creatives airing during Olympic TV commercial breaks – 20 Democrat and 11 Republican. In addition to almost doubling up the GOP during the Olympics in terms of the number of ads aired Team Blue accounted for 67% of this ad spend [$33M] versus just 33% for Team Red [$17M].
Amongst the Democrat groups airing presidential spots during Olympic programming FF PAC took the top spot with over $25M in spending, followed by Harris for President [$7M], AB PAC [$1.5M] and Democracy First [$161K]. With Biden dropping out on July 21st, it is interesting to note how quickly the Dem ad buyers adjusted- no ads aired featuring President Biden. AB PAC and Democracy First attacked Donald Trump while FF PAC and Harris for President highlighted the Vice President’s strengths. Furthermore, with Minnesota Governor Tim Walz being added to the ticket on August 6th, the Harris campaign was able to modify one of their existing creatives to account for his candidacy the very next day.
Turning to the Republican groups airing TV presidential spots during the Olympics, MediaRadar CMAG can report Preserve America PAC led the way with $9.5M in spending, followed by Make America Great Again [$4.9M], Donald J Trump for President 2024, Inc. [$2.1M] and Securing American Greatness [$186]. As with the Democrats, 5 days’ notice was enough for the GOP to tweak their media strategy; all of their activity was attacking VP Harris. The exception being 2 airings from Securing American Greatness which attacked President Biden.
Why the disparity here? It is possibly due to Olympics viewers leaning left politically, so GOP media buyers believed it wise to allocate money elsewhere. But this Olympic microcosm mirrors the larger national picture: Democrats have spent more in 2024 [$251M] and have more reservations for future presidential ad buys across TV/CTV/Radio [$301M] than the Republicans have [$235M] and are scheduled to spend [$151M]. Paging Elon Musk?
