Editor's note: Here's the seventh installment of the 2016 Presidential Campaign Ad Scorecard, a comprehensive view of spending across broadcast, cable and satellite TV as well as radio. The charts below represent a collaboration between the Ad Age Datacenter -- specifically, Kevin Brown, Bradley Johnson and Catherine Wolf -- and Kantar Media's Campaign Media Analysis Group (CMAG). Some context from Ad Age's Simon Dumenco follows. --Ken Wheaton
• As previously noted, because our charts offer a cumulative view of ad spending (starting April 5, 2015), the dropouts -- Jeb Bush, Ben Carson, Chris Christie and Marco Rubio -- are still included.
• In our last scorecard, the combined spending on TV and radio by Hillary Clinton's campaign and pro-Hillary PACs was trailing the combined spending on TV and radio by Bernie Sanders and pro-Bernie PACs. But pro-Hillary PAC ad spending has since surged -- from a total to date last time of $1.6 million to a new total to date this time of $11.5 million. The Sanders' campaign has itself still spent more ($57.2 million) than the Clinton campaign ($51.1 million) on TV and radio advertising, but given the comparatively paltry TV-and-radio ad spending ($433,079) by pro-Bernie PACs, Hillary Clinton now takes the lead in terms of combined TV-and-radio ad spending by her campaign and the PACs supporting her campaign.
Scroll down below the charts for an important note...
| Presidential Campaigns | Ad Spend by Candidate | Ad Spend by PACs* | Total | PACs and advocacy groups* | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jeb Bush | $4,620,417 | $75,602,270 |
$80,222,687
|
Right to Rise USA |
| 2 | Marco Rubio | $17,666,300 | $52,582,834 |
$70,249,134
|
American Opportunity PAC; Baby Got PAC; Conservative Solutions Project; Conservative Solutions PAC |
| 3 | Hillary Clinton | $51,124,151 | $11,539,184 |
$62,663,335
|
NARAL Pro-choice America; Priorities USA Action |
| 4 | Bernie Sanders | $57,246,310 | $433,079 |
$57,679,389
|
Communications Workers of America; Friends of the Earth Action; National Nurses United for Patient Protection |
| 5 | Ted Cruz | $14,858,101 | $17,637,292 |
$32,495,393
|
Courageous Conservatives PAC; Keep the Promise I and III; Lone Star Committee; Stand for Truth; Stand for Truth PAC; Trusted Leadership PAC |
| 6 | Anti-Donald Trump** | $24,569,789 |
$24,569,789
|
American Future Fund; Club for Growth; Club for Growth Action; Make America Awesome; Our Principles PAC | |
| 7 | John Kasich | $3,075,312 | $15,506,136 |
$18,581,448
|
New Day for America; New Day Independent Media Committee |
| 8 | Chris Christie | $771,006 | $17,708,961 |
$18,479,967
|
America Leads |
| 9 | Donald Trump | $17,993,299 | $24,780 |
$18,018,079
|
Florida for Trump; Great America PAC |
| 10 | Ben Carson | $5,356,382 | $410,603 |
$5,766,985
|
Black America's PAC Action Fund; Our Children's Future; The 2016 Committee |
Source: Ad Age analysis of data from Kantar Media's CMAG.
Spending and ad buys (future buys subject to change) for president campaigns from April 5, 2015, through Nov. 7, 2016, as of March 30, 2016.
Pay structures differ for candidates and PACs. Candidates pay the lowest unit rate. PACs pay whatever the market will bear.
*Includes political action committees and advocacy groups. **Some of the PACs listed as opposed to Donald Trump also spent money related to other candidates' campaigns.
• As always, our charts, which were designed by Ad Age Digital Content Producer Chen Wu, are interactive. Click on the arrows in the first chart to sort and resort. And hover over the second chart to get drill-down data. You can also select and deselect individual candidates (by clicking on the color block next to their names) in the second chart to include or exclude them from view.
