Scoop: Senate GOP makes massive bet on streaming

• In some states, streaming and social media have swallowed half of the Senate Leadership Fund (SLF) budget, according to a source familiar with the group's spending.
• SLF's $200M+ total for the 2026 cycle (up from $71M in 2024) includes tens of millions of dollars funneled through the SLF-linked Texas PAC and its affiliated nonprofit One Nation.

The other side: The top Senate Democratic super PAC declined to provide a dollar figure for their spending on streaming.

• "Senate Majority PAC invested more this cycle in digital communications than any previous cycle, running digital campaigns in 12 states," SMP communications director Lauren French told Axios.

Zoom in: Streaming and social platforms offer campaigns the power to target more specific audiences compared to traditional broadcast, and make it easier to measure the impact.

• "Its way more surgical than a linear broadcast buy," Zack Roday, managing director at Think Big, told Axios.
• But platforms can also set their own rules around which types of ads they want to accept. Some, like Netflix and TikTok, don't allow any candidate or issue ads.
• Republicans have complained about restrictions on ads that include transgender issues on Disney-owned platforms.

Between the lines: Super PACs often pay multiple times what a campaign pays for ads on broadcast TV and radio because of laws ensuring candidates get the lowest rates.

• Online, super PACs can negotiate directly — and use their fat budgets and sprawling election maps as leverage.
• SLF works with platforms like SiriusXM, Paramount, Hulu, YouTube and others to lock in discounts based on their overall spending plans, according to the source.
• Groups can also experiment with different lengths and formats for ads online, breaking the 30-second broadcast mold.

What to watch: Streaming ads can also be trickier for outside tracking. While Meta and Google provide public data on political ad buys, not every platform provides that kind of visibility,

• Streaming buys aren't covered by the same FCC filing requirements as political ad reservations on broadcast TV and radio.
• Broadcast filings can offer a preview of a group's targets months in advance, but streaming reservations are much harder to see.
• Although AI is changing the game, and there is a growing industry of companies offering better tracking tools.
• Super PACs still have to report independent expenditures to the FEC through 24- and 48- hour reports.

Zoom out: Strong grassroots fundraising has helped Democratic candidates crush Republicans in dollars brought in directly to candidates.

• The GOP is hitting back with cash-flush committees and super PACs fueled by ultra-wealthy donors.
• In addition to super PACs moving more money to streaming, the National Republican Senatorial Committee jumped on a court decisions to coordinate ad buys with campaigns — giving them access to the candidate rate.
• It also allowed NRSC to negotiate with streaming platforms on behalf of multiple campaigns.

The bottom line: It's just the beginning on maneuvering on streaming and coordinated buys.

• "That is definitely going to be the story of 2028," Kenny Day, senior vice president at IQM corporation, told Axios.
• He said the Supreme Court decision on coordinated spending "was too late for either party to really take advantage of the allowance of coordinated spending" in the 2026 cycle.

Editor's note: This story has been corrected to show that the more than $200 million total from the Senate Leadership Fund included money spent through Texas PAC (not that it excluded that spending).