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In Maine, the US midterms accounted for 2026 roughly 331 US dollars in political advertising spending per registered voter. Alaska came in at 313 dollars, Iowa at 252 dollars. The figures come from an analysis published on 6. November by ADWEEK, based on AdImpact data and voter registration lists.
That makes the election a notable case for media planning: in small, fiercely contested markets, numerous campaigns compete for the same ad slots. The bill grows larger without the available audience growing with it.
Maine: one TV contact did not cost the same for everyone
The Bangor Daily News documented how this price pressure played out in everyday life on 17 September. Since late July, an average TV household in Maine had seen about 46 spots for the Senate race, on traditional television alone.
The decisive difference lay not only in ad volume but in buying: at this interim stage, the Republican side paid roughly 323 dollars per gross rating point, the Democratic side about 263 dollars. One reason was the differing shares of external political groups, which often pay more for airtime than candidate campaigns do. For the same budget, different amounts of TV reach could therefore be booked.
On 3 November, Democrat Troy Jackson prevailed over incumbent Republican Senator Susan Collins. The more expensive ad buying and the higher ad pressure on the Republican side did not prevent the defeat. That makes the case interesting for performance teams: budget size, contacts booked and the actual campaign goal are three different metrics.
11,87 billion dollars – and CTV has long been a main channel
The scale is shown by the AdImpact Election Day Insights Center: as of the data status on 2 November 2026, 11,87 billion dollars in political advertising spending had been recorded nationwide. Of this, 49 percent went to broadcast TV, 22 percent to connected TV, 15 percent to digital advertising and 11 percent to cable TV.
CTV is therefore no longer just the digital supplement to a classic TV plan. Where political campaigns and brands bid for streaming inventory at the same time, frequency, reach overlaps and regional spread become tangible cost factors. Our look at CTV ad prices around the US midterms shows the channel shift in detail.
Creative production is changing too: the 187 million dollars for AI-assisted election ad spots show how political campaigns scale new content. In parallel, conventional ads compete with election coverage from creators; YouTube dominated the election livestreams.
What German marketing teams can take from this
First: CPM is not the only thing that counts. In an oversold audience, even precise targeting can become expensive. The Maine example shows how buying conditions and the choice of buying actor change the real price per contact.
Second: reach needs a frequency cap. When people see the same message several times across TV, streaming and social, the number of contacts rises faster than the number of people reached. Cross-channel reporting must therefore account for net reach and overlaps.
Third: measure results separately from delivery. Advertising budget and booked rating points explain the advertising pressure; for the impact, additional data on behavior and outcomes is needed. This is exactly where tests, lift measurement and clearly defined campaign goals come in.
The US figures are an extreme case, but the underlying question is universal: Does a higher budget buy more relevant people – or mainly more expensive repetitions?
Sources: ADWEEK, 6. November 2026; AdImpact, data as of 2. November; Bangor Daily News, 17. September; The Guardian on the election result in Maine, 3. November.