Bloomberg's Super Tuesday splurge

Michael Bloomberg is funneling more than a third of his massive advertising war chest into the 14 states voting on Super Tuesday, data from Advertising Analytics shows.

Why it matters: While most candidates are focusing their dollars and efforts on early primary states, the Democratic presidential candidate has his eyes set on the states he thinks he can win — and those with the most delegates.

Details: 35% of Bloomberg's ad money has been spent on the four states with the largest number of Democratic delegates — California, New York, Texas and Florida. Nearly half has been spent on Super Tuesday and Rust Belt states.

• Meanwhile, former Mayor Pete Buttigieg, Sen. Bernie Sanders, former Vice President Joe Biden, and Sen. Elizabeth Warren have spent more than half of all their ad dollars since last January on early voting states.
• Biden and Warren were forced to scramble and shift money to New Hampshire as poor Iowa results rolled in, AP reported. Biden is struggling to raise money to last until states with more diverse demographics begin voting.

"While other campaigns have been focused on Iowa, we’ve been building an operation of political and organizing talent across the country that is unmatched and laying the groundwork in the states critical to defeating Trump in November."

The big picture: Bloomberg's team has also been invested on the ground, hiring staff and setting up offices in every Super Tuesday state, according to the campaign. They aim to have conversations with 10 million voters before Super Tuesday.

• So far, the investment seems to be paying off. The billionaire former New York mayor's rise in national polls is due largely to his growing popularity in Super Tuesday states, according to FiveThirtyEight.
• He's even surpassed Warren in Florida.

Yes, but: While skipping the early primary states ensures that the presidential nominee comes out unscathed ahead of Super Tuesday, it also means Bloomberg has missed out on potentially building more earned media support nationally. 

• Buttigieg, for example, saw a bump in national polls after Iowa. He was polling fourth in New Hampshire right before the first 2020 caucus. Now, he's polling second, just 5 points behind Sanders, according to FiveThirtyEight.

Early states missed out on the Bloomberg money surge.

• Total campaign spending on tv, radio and satellite ads on the Iowa caucus fell from 2016 to 2020. This was in part due to the decline in super PACs this election cycle, according to Steve Passwaiter, VP of political advertising at Kantar Media/CMAG, an ad measurement firm.
• It didn't help that Bloomberg largely skipped over the state.

Go deeper: Bloomberg's big bet on the power of money