Bloomberg Overtakes Trump in Campaign Spend on Digital Ads

In the lead-up to the 2020 presidential elections, billionaire Michael Bloomberg has spent more than any other candidate on digital ads, overtaking the campaign of current President Donald Trump.

Bloomberg spent heavily in January. The billionaire and former New York City mayor upped his total spend to $58.4 million in record time – he only joined the race in November. In third place is another billionaire, Tom Steyer, who spent more than $26 million – highlighting the advantages of self-funded campaigning.

In the past year, Trump took out Facebook ads worth $25 million and forked out $14 million for Google ads – a total of $39 million. The Republican has collected more than $211 million over the course of the 2020 electoral cycle, more than any Democratic candidate for the nomination (self-funders Bloomberg and Steyer have given comparable amounts to their own campaigns).

Other candidates for the 2020 election spent much less on digital ads. While Pete Buttigieg’s campaign afforded $13 million in digital ads, Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) spent around $10-12 million each. Frontrunner Joe Biden seems to be relying on traditional ad channels more - he only spent $5.8 million on digital advertisements in one year.