Political TV ad buys, before they air
Federal law requires every US broadcaster to file the contract for each political ad it sells — with the price paid and the exact dates it will run. Those filings sit in scanned PDFs almost nobody reads. We read them and publish what they say, with a link to the original on every line.
$114.3MBooked for 2026
$81.8MHas not aired yet
413Contracts of $100k+
9Markets covered
By state
Michigan
$43.4M booked
162 contracts · $25.5M not aired yet
North Carolina
$18.5M booked
68 contracts · $13.6M not aired yet
Ohio
$16.0M booked
82 contracts · $14.0M not aired yet
Pennsylvania
$13.1M booked
60 contracts · $8.4M not aired yet
Nevada
$12.3M booked
21 contracts · $10.9M not aired yet
Arizona
$11.0M booked
20 contracts · $9.3M not aired yet
| State | Markets | Contracts | Not aired yet | Total booked |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Michigan | 2 | 162 | $25,506,250 | $43,439,350 |
| North Carolina | 1 | 68 | $13,600,450 | $18,511,450 |
| Ohio | 2 | 82 | $14,027,390 | $15,950,430 |
| Pennsylvania | 2 | 60 | $8,398,830 | $13,053,145 |
| Nevada | 1 | 21 | $10,914,235 | $12,304,985 |
| Arizona | 1 | 20 | $9,336,293 | $11,049,886 |
What this is
- Only outside‑group buys of $100,000 or more. Candidate committees file their contracts a day or two before air — there is no useful warning in those. Party‑aligned outside groups file months ahead, and they move most of the money.
- Source: the FCC’s Online Public Inspection File, mandated by 47 CFR §73.1943. Free and public.
- Every row links to the original filing. Verify before you publish anything — the FCC copy is authoritative, not ours.
- Coverage is a sample of large markets, not every station in the country. It grows each week.
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