Election Ads Boom in 2012, but the Online Shift Still Isn’t Happening

The Obama and Romney campaigns spent a combined $1 billion on advertising. Widen the scope to include congressional campaigns and other election-season spending and the total outlay ends up closer to $6 billion, by some estimates. More than a million television ads have been aired this election cycle.

As notable as the boom in TV ads is the lack of a corresponding boom online, where onlookers have been predicting big shifts in campaign spending since at least the 2004 cycle. But in 2012, like 2008, television remained king. The great digital migration just isn’t happening.