@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.
📢 We're Hiring!
The Wesleyan Media Project (WMP), in collaboration with Wesleyan University’s Hazel Quantitative Analysis Center (QAC) at Wesleyan University, is seeking a postdoctoral researcher in computational social science to join us.
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...
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
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
📈📊 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 ⬇️⬇️
📢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
💥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
💥 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
💥 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
📢 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 ⬇️⬇️
@efranklinfowler.bsky.social @tnridout.bsky.social @mmfranz.bsky.social
💥 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
💥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
💡 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/
💥 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
💥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
📢 With control of the House and Senate in play, the latest WMP report includes key findings and ad data:
• House ad volume sets records.
• Outside groups are heavily involved.
mediaproject.wesleyan.edu/releases-091...
@opensecretsdc.bsky.social
#politicalads #2024election
💥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
We have a visualization @wesmediaproject.bsky.social showing television ad volume where you can see the comparison: mediaproject.wesleyan.edu/releases-082...
💥 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...
Such a fantastic site for campaign advertising information and figures! I use it in class all the time.
📢 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...
💥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
💥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
Here’s the latest from WMP on TV 📺 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
💥New WMP Report: Biden airs $13m in broadcast ads since Super Tuesday. 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
“In 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
📈💰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...
🔎🔥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...