The Ultimate Cost per Conversion: 2024 Campaign Edition
The Ultimate Cost per Conversion: 2024 Campaign Edition
You’ve probably heard us say before that political ad spending isn’t the smartest. Campaigns are in a hurry to advertise, and that haste makes waste. From paying silly rack rates for site-direct and overspending on outdated TV strategies, to bad digital bidding and spillage, political advertising is (sorry, guys) the dumb money. And yet, there’s so much of it.
In the 2024 political cycle, about $13 billion was spent on advertising—roughly 30% more than the prior presidential cycle in 2020. About $3 billion was spent on presidential, and the rest on other down-ballot and issue campaigns.
Approximately 154.9 million votes were cast in the 2024 election. Which brings us to our ultimate cost per conversion for this political cycle. How much advertising does it take to influence one vote? If you look only at the presidential campaign, both sides combined spent about $20 per vote cast. Considering all political advertising, the cost per vote was about $84.
Of course, the vast majority of political ad spending was in just seven states comprising a voting population of about 20% of the country’s overall base. And 3 out of 4 ad dollars were spent in these locations. This makes the real, tactical cost per vote in 2024 swing states closer to $73 for the presidential and $315 for the overall political cycle.
Might we suggest a couple take-aways? Spend smartly; you don’t want to be the dumb money. And think about what influencing one person is worth to your campaign.