Sinclair Reports Record Political Ad Sales as US Midterms Near
Sinclair, the US broadcaster that owns local television stations across the country, has booked a record year for political advertising. According to Deadline, the company's political ad spending reached $455 million in 2026, an all-time high for Sinclair.
Political ads are the paid messages that candidates, parties and campaign groups buy on TV, usually in the weeks and months before an election. This year's races are midterms, the national votes held halfway through a president's term. Those ads run in the commercial breaks around local news, shows and sport, so viewers see more of them as polling day gets closer.
In the third quarter, which covers July to September, Sinclair sold $136 million in political ads. That figure was 55% higher than the same stretch of the 2022 midterm year. The $455 million total also beat the $333 million the company made in 2022, its previous best for a midterm cycle, and topped the $405 million it took in during the 2024 presidential race.
The quarter's wider numbers were strong too. Sinclair's total revenue rose 16% from a year earlier to $893 million. Adjusted EBITDA, a measure of profit that strips out interest, tax, depreciation and certain one-off costs, more than doubled to $213 million. Earnings per share came in at 60 cents, compared with a loss of 2 cents per share in the same quarter last year.
Deadline reported that the results were better than expected. Sinclair had told investors on 5 October that it would publish its third-quarter figures on 4 November, at 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time, and it did so on the day.
The political figures had been building through the year. In August, Sinclair said its second-quarter political advertising revenue was $59 million, up 9% on the same quarter of 2022, in its second-quarter results release.
For viewers, the practical effect is simple. More campaign spots will fill the breaks on Sinclair's stations between now and election day. For the company, the money arrives in a short window, which is why the third quarter carried so much of the year's political income.
