The Most Expensive Midterm Ever Was Won on Local TV, Not TikTok

The most expensive election in US history did not end on a podcast. It ended on local TV. Advertising tracker AdImpact projected the 2025 to 2026 cycle would hit US$11.6 billion in political ad spending, calling it "the most expensive election cycle on record," ahead of the US$11.2 billion spent in the 2024 presidential race, in its June forecast. That is a midterm, beating a presidential year.

For scale, Canada's Liberal and Conservative parties raised a combined US$95 million in 2024 and 2025, according to Elections Canada figures cited by CBC News. Ad spending in Texas's Senate race alone topped US$500 million.

Where Did $11.6 Billion in Political Ads Go?

A lot of it went to the local station you forgot you had. Nexstar, the largest US local broadcaster, booked US$317 million in political advertising in the third quarter and a company record of US$1.1 billion across the cycle, up 31% from the 2022 midterms, TVNewsCheck reported. Scripps took in US$82.6 million in political ads in the quarter, up from US$5.5 million a year earlier, according to TVNewsCheck.

Broadcasters are taking a victory lap. "Local TV platforms took nearly half of the record $11.9 billion spent this year, according to AdImpact," Scripps CEO Adam Symson said, using a higher final tally. Nexstar CEO Perry Sook went further. "Those that spent heavily in connected TV as their primary strategy two years ago didn't win," he said.

That is a broadcaster talking his own book. Streaming is still growing fast, and Scripps itself said its connected TV revenue rose 37%. But the old playbook of saturating local news breaks with attack ads has clearly not died.

Who Pays the Influencers, and Do They Have to Tell You?

Often nobody tells you. Nearly 65% of 2,000 US adults surveyed by YouGov said they get political information from digital creators, rising to 77% among Gen Z, WIRED reported. Campaigns and interest groups have followed the audience.

One example stands out. Build American AI, the nonprofit arm of an AI industry super PAC network, used marketing agency SM4 to pitch influencers deals "such as $5,000 per TikTok video" to frame China's AI progress as a threat, WIRED reported in May. "These influencers are accepting undisclosed money from the [AI] industry, they're promoting the messaging of specific companies, and the public has no idea. It is extremely corrosive to democracy," said Jamie Cohen, a media studies professor at Queens College, CUNY.

US rules have not caught up. The Federal Election Commission requires disclaimers on communications "placed or promoted for a fee on another person's website, digital device, application, or advertising platform," per its guidance. The word "influencer" does not appear in it, and issue campaigns paid through nonprofits sit in a gray zone.

Did AI-Generated Ads Change the Campaign?

They went from novelty to line item. Spending on AI-generated political ads rose from US$50,000 to at least US$137 million over two years, and 81% of them supported Republican candidates and causes, Adweek reported, citing the Wesleyan Media Project. Adweek's own advice to campaigns was blunt. "Please stay away from AI-generated creative," it wrote.

The results back that up. The party that leaned hardest into AI ads lost both chambers in a year when voters were angry at the AI industry and its data centers.

Who Was Watching on Election Night?

Network TV still owns the big night. NBC News averaged 6.7 million primetime viewers, ABC News 5.2 million and Fox News 4.32 million, followed by CNN at 4.15 million, according to final Nielsen figures reported by Deadline. The audience splits between screens, but the results show up on the broadcast first.

Could This Happen in a Canadian Election?

Not at this scale, by design. In Canada, any person or group that spends $500 or more on regulated election activities has to register with Elections Canada as a third party, and foreign third parties are barred from those activities, according to Elections Canada.

The influencer question is the same on both sides of the border, though. About two-thirds of young Canadians engaged with political content from influencers more than with mainstream news, according to a McGill and University of Toronto study cited by The Globe and Mail. YouTube says it supported 35,000 creator jobs in Canada last year. "We just do not have great data on the impact of the creator economy in Canada," said Nicole Bell, head of YouTube Canada.

For Canadian creators, that is the real lesson of the US midterms. Your audience is worth money to campaigns and causes, and the pitch will not always come labeled as politics. If someone offers a fee to post about an issue, ask who is paying before your followers have to.