The main Democratic super PAC supporting President Biden’s re-election bid, Future Forward, is starting this week to set aside $250 million for advertising in key battleground states, a move it says is the largest single political advertising purchase by one Super PAC is in the history of the nation.
The ads, to be split between $140 million on television and $110 million on digital and streaming platforms, will begin the day after the end of the Democratic National Convention in August and run through Election Day, the Super said -PAC.
The ad reservation includes seven states considered key presidential battlegrounds: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. The super PAC said it had set aside more than $16 million for broadcast and cable advertising in Atlanta and $12 million for the Phoenix TV markets – the largest in the two states that Mr. Biden won for the first time in 2020 for the first time in years in the Democratic column. Big money is also being spent in smaller markets in battleground states: $3 million each in Madison, Wisconsin and Reno, Nevada, and $2 million in Flint, Michigan.
The digital reservation includes about $35 million on YouTube, more on other streaming platforms including Hulu, Roku and Vevo, as well as the streaming services of Spanish-language giants Telemundo and Univision.
Future Forward also aims to appeal to some of the same demographic groups of more dissatisfied and disinterested Democrats that the Biden campaign itself is focusing on: younger voters, Hispanic voters and black voters.
The reservation is made entirely by Future Forward’s super PAC, known as FF PAC. The group also has a nonprofit arm that began advertising last year. The super PAC and nonprofit have already announced plans to raise $208 million in 2023, meaning the group likely already has even more funding in pledges.
“The stakes of this election couldn’t be higher, and come Election Day every voter in the battleground will know it,” said Chauncey McLean, president of the Future Forward super PAC. “We will execute a cost-effective, data-driven program of unprecedented scale to re-elect Joe Biden.”
The $250 million ad buy is more than any independent spending group spent during the entire 2020 election. Future Forward spent $151 million to support Mr. Biden four years ago and will play an even more significant role in 2024 after the White House named the super PAC the top outside group this year. The leading super PAC supporting President Donald J. Trump in 2020, America First Action, spent $150 million.
By reserving ads early, the super PAC should be able to negotiate better rates than those who buy later and secure some of the most coveted time slots.
As the likelihood of the Republican Party renominating Mr. Trump grows ever greater, Democrats are hoping their constellation of supportive super PACs will give the party a significant financial advantage.
The main pro-Trump super PAC said it raised $46 million in the second half of 2023 and about $60 million this year — far less than Future Forward.
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2024-01-30 16:23:44
www.nytimes.com