The $14 Million Battle for GA-06

Today’s special election in Georgia’s 6th Congressional district is viewed as the first true test of the GOP majority in the Trump era. Collectively, eighteen different advertisers have poured nearly $14.3 million onto the airwaves —and it’s not over yet. We will be headed to a runoff if no candidate can clear 50 percent.

To tell the story of what’s really happening on the airwaves in Georgia, we partnered with Medium Buying, a media buying agency, combining their competitive TV advertising data with our own broadcast and cable from Insights On Air to provide a comprehensive look at media spending in round one. Some key takeaways:

• Democratic candidate Jon Ossoff is the most prolific spender, with $5.146 million and heavy investments on radio and cable.
• Collectively, Republicans have outspent Ossoff and Democratic-leaning groups by a 61 to 39 percent margin, but given more favorable ad rates received by candidates as opposed to outside groups, the GOP has just a 51.6 to 48.4% share of voice advantage.
• The Republican message is split amongst several candidates and national GOP groups driving Republican turnout to keep Ossoff under 50 percent today. 29.9% of total dollars have been spent on pro-GOP/anti-Ossoff ads but these groups command just a 13.2% of the time on broadcast television. Given steeper ad rates for these groups, it’s no wonder that some like the Congressional Leadership Fund have turned heavily to cable TV advertising. Amongst candidates, Dan Moody has a clear share of voice advantage driven by spending from his own campaign — though Karen Handel leads in polling.

For methodology questions and to learn more about Echelon’s Insights On Air platform, get in touch here. To learn more about Medium Buying, visit their website here.