Arizona’s election cycle to see an influx of new digital advertisements

As November's national and local elections get closer, Arizonans can expect to see a lot of political advertisements -- most of them negative.

BY PETER SAMORE

Mar 11, 2020, 4:55 AM

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(Flickr/Hamza Butt)

PHOENIX — As November’s national and local elections get closer, Arizonans can expect to see a lot of political advertisements — most of them negative.

In Arizona, Cox Media expects to spend less on the presidential race than on the senate race between Sen. Martha McSally and retired astronaut Mark Kelly.

“We’re expecting between $70 million and $100 million to be spent on that race alone in Arizona,” Cox Media’s Vice President Richard Barone told KTAR News 92.3 FM.

In this election cycle, Barone believes campaigns, PACs and super-PACs will produce a large portion of video ads for television, on-demand platforms and smartphone apps.

“We’ve noticed the change to viewership has cycled out of a lot of the banner ads that were popular back in ’16 and ’18,” Barone said.

He added that Cox will welcome as many political advertisers as possible, but says the company will maintain transparency throughout the election season.

Barone welcomed consumers to inspect Cox’s public file to know who is producing the advertisements.