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Wesleyan Media Project

@wesmediaproject.bsky.social

The Wesleyan Media Project tracks and analyzes political advertising by federal and gov candidates online and on TV in every media market in the country. Directed by @efranklinfowler.bsky.social, @mikefranz.bsky.social, and @tnridout.bsky.social.

1,458 Followers  |  126 Following  |  41 Posts  |  Joined: 19.08.2023  |  2.0272

Latest posts by wesmediaproject.bsky.social on Bluesky

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Dark Money on TV in the 2024 Elections - Wesleyan Media Project

Anna Massoglia has a new analysis with @brennancenter.org exploring dark money spending in the 2024 elections (www.brennancenter.org/our-work/res...). Anna looked at many sources of data, including our analysis on dark money sponsors of TV ads in 2023-24. mediaproject.wesleyan.edu/dark-money-o...

25.06.2025 16:24 β€” πŸ‘ 16    πŸ” 6    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 1
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Five Professors Appointed to Named Chairs

Congrats to our co-director, Michael Franz, who has been named the DeAlva Stanwood Alexander Professor of Government at his home institution, Bowdoin College!

www.bowdoin.edu/news/2025/05...

@mikefranz.bsky.social

25.06.2025 16:19 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Advertising trends in the 2024 presidential race - Election Analysis - United States Prof. Travis N. Ridout Professor in the School of Politics, Philosophy and Public Affairs at Washington State University. He does research on political communication, political campaigns and advertisi...

TV advertising in 2024 presidential race was close to dead even. Our quick take on political advertising in this year's campaign. With @efranklinfowler.bsky.social and @mikefranz.bsky.social

15.11.2024 20:42 β€” πŸ‘ 19    πŸ” 8    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 1

πŸ“ˆπŸ“Š A stunning amount of ads and a stunningly even distribution of presidential advertising between the parties on television. Harris still leads on digital. Read more 2024 analysis in our final pre-election report this cycle ⬇️⬇️

31.10.2024 18:57 β€” πŸ‘ 9    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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πŸ“’New WMP report: In the past week, only a very small percentage of pro-Harris ads were positive, with most of them falling into the contrast category. The Trump campaign split its ads between contrast ads and attack ads.

Read full report: mediaproject.wesleyan.edu/releases-103...

#2024election

31.10.2024 18:52 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 3    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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More Than $4.5 Billion in Ad Spending This Cycle - Wesleyan Media Project

πŸ’₯NEW WMP report: More than $4.5 billion in ad spending this cycle, when digital ad spending is added to the mix, total spending tops $5 billion.
Read more: mediaproject.wesleyan.edu/releases-103...

@mmfranz.bsky.social @tnridout.bsky.social @efranklinfowler.bsky.social
@opensecretsdc.bsky.social

31.10.2024 18:50 β€” πŸ‘ 10    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 1
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Harris TV Ads Plummet Before Rebounding - Wesleyan Media Project

πŸ’₯ NEW report from WMP: Nearly $300 Million in Presidential Ad Spending Across Platforms Over Past Two Weeks.

Read the full report: mediaproject.wesleyan.edu/releases-102...

@efranklinfowler.bsky.social , @tnridout.bsky.social, and @mmfranz.bsky.social.

#2024election #politicalads

24.10.2024 18:42 β€” πŸ‘ 4    πŸ” 4    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 1
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Presidential Advertising Issue Spotlight (7/22/24 – 10/15/24) - Wesleyan Media Project

πŸ’₯ New tools for visualizing presidential advertising by geography! One that shows the breakdown of presidential ads by issue mentions on TV & one that shows FB & IG spending over time. ⬇️ mediaproject.wesleyan.edu/issues-oct24/

@mmfranz.bsky.social @tnridout.bsky.social @efranklinfowler.bsky.social

17.10.2024 20:29 β€” πŸ‘ 4    πŸ” 4    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

πŸ“’ For those who care about transparency and #darkmoney in elections, we’ve found at least $281 million so far from advertisers who may not report all of their donors. #2024election polisky #polcomm #commsky ⬇️⬇️

16.10.2024 17:04 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 3    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

@efranklinfowler.bsky.social @tnridout.bsky.social @mmfranz.bsky.social

16.10.2024 16:17 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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New report details at least $600 million in digital Ad spending this cycle - Wesleyan Media Project

πŸ’₯ NEW report from WMP, @opensecretsdc.bsky.social, and @brennancenter.bsky.social sheds light on the scope of online ad spending this election cycle on the two largest online platforms, Google and Meta.

Read more: mediaproject.wesleyan.edu/reports-1016...

#2024election #politicalads

16.10.2024 16:17 β€” πŸ‘ 5    πŸ” 4    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 1
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Trump Narrows Harris’ Ad Advantage in Past Week - Wesleyan Media Project

πŸ’₯NEW from WMP: Trump and his allies show signs of closing the TV ad gap in the past week, but Harris still has large leads online.

Read the full report: mediaproject.wesleyan.edu/releases-101...

@mmfranz.bsky.social @tnridout.bsky.social @efranklinfowler.bsky.social w/ @opensecretsdc.bsky.social

11.10.2024 14:34 β€” πŸ‘ 4    πŸ” 3    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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πŸ’‘ WMP Issue Spotlight: This is the third post in a series of issue mentions in federal races by state shows the percentage of ads mentioning eight key issues tracked by the WMP.

See the release for more details: mediaproject.wesleyan.edu/issues-sept24/

03.10.2024 20:18 β€” πŸ‘ 4    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 1
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πŸ’₯ NEW from WMP: Harris is dominating digital platforms, particularly Facebook and Instagram.

Read the full report for more: mediaproject.wesleyan.edu/releases-092...

@mmfranz.bsky.social, @tnridout.bsky.social, and @efranklinfowler.bsky.social

#2024election #politicalads

28.09.2024 00:09 β€” πŸ‘ 8    πŸ” 5    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Pro-Trump TV Ads Plummet in Past Two Weeks as Harris Expands Ad Advantage Across Platforms - Wesleyan Media Project

πŸ’₯NEW from WMP: Pro-Trump Ads Declining on TV; Harris outspends Trump 16:1 on Meta & 3:1 on Google.

Pro-Harris TV ads more common than pro-Trump in almost all media markets nationally.

mediaproject.wesleyan.edu/releases-092...
@efranklinfowler.bsky.social @tnridout.bsky.social @mmfranz.bsky.social

27.09.2024 00:34 β€” πŸ‘ 7    πŸ” 4    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 1
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Presidential Campaign Turns to Economic Issues - Wesleyan Media Project

πŸ“’ With control of the House and Senate in play, the latest WMP report includes key findings and ad data:

β€’ House ad volume sets records.
β€’ Outside groups are heavily involved.

mediaproject.wesleyan.edu/releases-091...

@opensecretsdc.bsky.social

#politicalads #2024election

13.09.2024 14:00 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Presidential Campaign Turns to Economic Issues - Wesleyan Media Project

πŸ’₯NEW from WMP: Dem, GOP TV ads are almost equal, but Harris is outspending Trump nearly 3:1 on Meta & Google.

Airings in pres race have shifted to focus on the economy.

Full report: mediaproject.wesleyan.edu/releases-091...

@mmfranz.bsky.social @tnridout.bsky.social @efranklinfowler.bsky.social

12.09.2024 18:26 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 3    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 2
Map of the volume of campaign ads by media market in the U.S.

Map of the volume of campaign ads by media market in the U.S.

We have a visualization @wesmediaproject.bsky.social showing television ad volume where you can see the comparison: mediaproject.wesleyan.edu/releases-082...

05.09.2024 11:35 β€” πŸ‘ 14    πŸ” 5    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 1
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Trump and Allies Launch Barrage of Negative Ads - Wesleyan Media Project

πŸ’₯ New WMP report: Trump & allies unleash barrage of attack ads. Harris is competitive on TV & w/DNC heavily outspending Trump on Meta & Google. #2024election polisky polcomm #commsky

@tnridout.bsky.social @efranklinfowler.bsky.social

Read the full report: mediaproject.wesleyan.edu/releases-082...

29.08.2024 20:34 β€” πŸ‘ 5    πŸ” 3    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 1

Such a fantastic site for campaign advertising information and figures! I use it in class all the time.

25.08.2024 21:51 β€” πŸ‘ 13    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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Trump Out-Airing Harris in Early Restart of General Election - Wesleyan Media Project

πŸ“’ New WMP report: Trump and allies are currently out-airing Harris and allies on TV in the early restart of the presidential general election. #2024Election #Presidentialelection

@efranklinfowler.bsky.social @tnridout.bsky.social

mediaproject.wesleyan.edu/releases-081...

16.08.2024 14:37 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 3    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 1
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Biden campaign TV ad spending steady since debate; pro-Biden group spending drops Wesleyan Media Project

πŸ’₯New WMP Report on pre/post debate TV ads: Biden activity in the 2 weeks before & after the debate was steady, but pro-Biden ads declined.

@tnridout.bsky.social @efranklinfowler.bsky.social

Read the full report here: mediaproject.wesleyan.edu/releases-071...

#2024election

16.07.2024 20:26 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 1
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Digital Ad Spending Nearly Even with TV in Presidential General Election

πŸ’₯WMP Report Digital Update: The Biden campaign has outspent the Trump campaign by more than 3:1 on digital ads since March 6
@tnridout.bsky.social

@efranklinfowler.bsky.social
w/
@opensecretsdc.bsky.social
Read the full report here: mediaproject.wesleyan.edu/releases-053...

#2024election

31.05.2024 19:57 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 1

Here’s the latest from WMP on TV πŸ“Ί advertising, including updates on volume, spending, and issues in presidential and congressional races and tone in the presidential general election so far!

Stay tuned for a digital advertising update next week… polisky polcomm #commsky

23.05.2024 18:30 β€” πŸ‘ 7    πŸ” 3    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
Biden on TV in Key States, While Trump is Off-Air - Wesleyan Media Project

πŸ’₯New WMP Report: Biden airs $13m in broadcast ads since Super Tuesday.Β  Trump campaign has none. @tnridout.bsky.social @efranklinfowler.bsky.social & Michael Franz w/ @opensecretsdc.bsky.social

Read the full report here: mediaproject.wesleyan.edu/releases-052...

polisky polcom #commsky

23.05.2024 18:25 β€” πŸ‘ 4    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 1

β€œIn 2016, Donald Trump’s campaign made headlines for spending half of his advertising budget on digital ads. Eight years later, it is Joe Biden’s campaign going all-out on online advertising.” -@efranklinfowler.bsky.social

18.03.2024 11:55 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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πŸ“ˆπŸ’°Biden dominating the digital space, outspending Trump by 5:1 on Meta and Google. Biden’s campaign has totaled more than $23M, compared to the just over $4M by Trump’s campaign. Read more in our newest report: mediaproject.wesleyan.edu/releases-031...

18.03.2024 11:54 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
U.S. Senate and U.S. House Advertising Spikes as Presidential Ads Wane - Wesleyan Media Project

πŸ”ŽπŸ”₯Presidential ads may be fading, but the heat is on in congressional races! Dive into the numbers: 300,000+ ad airings and record-breaking spending, and get a glimpse of the strategies shaping the battleground in the WMP’s latest report: mediaproject.wesleyan.edu/releases-031...

15.03.2024 16:28 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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πŸ“ŠPro-Republican ads focus on immigration, while Democrats highlight prescription drugs and housing. The difference in issue agendas reflects the intense polarization driving this election cycle. #politicalinsights #campaigns

14.03.2024 20:12 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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πŸ”ŽπŸ“ΊDive into the numbers: Over 300,000 ad airings, eclipsing past cycles. With control of the House and Senate up for grabs, the battle for congressional seats is in full swing. #election2024 #politicalinsights

14.03.2024 20:11 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

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