Why Higher Ed Ad Costs Spike During Election Season (and What You Can Do About It)

When election season rolls around, the world of digital advertising can feel like a wild storm—especially for higher education institutions. If you’ve ever noticed that your ads cost more during an election cycle, you’re not alone. But why is that happening?

Let’s break it down.

What’s driving up ad costs?

Increased competition

Political campaigns flood platforms like Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and other social channels with massive amounts of advertising. Their goal is to reach as many people as possible. And guess what? These campaigns are often targeting the same demographics as higher education institutions, especially younger voters and professionals—aka your prospective students. The sheer volume of political ads means more competition, which drives up the price of getting your own ads in front of people.

Ad fatigue

As political ads take over, many users get overwhelmed by the onslaught and start to tune out. Unfortunately, your university’s ads may get lost in the noise, meaning you’re paying more for less impact.

Localized impact

If your institution is in a state or region experiencing a heated election race, the costs could rise even more. Local elections affect both community colleges and universities, especially if you’re running campaigns in areas flooded with local political messaging.

Less affected, but still impacted: Google Ads

While social media platforms are hit the hardest, programs with a political or social focus (think political science or public policy) may still feel the squeeze on Google Ads. Plus, local elections can affect costs if you’re advertising regionally. The issue would come when universities are bidding on key words or similar items that may overlap with a political issue. So, if you have a supply chain related degree and if a political campaign is also focusing on supply chain issues they may be bidding on the same or a similar keyword and thus you may raise each other’s costs. This can be true to any degree; it all depends on what keywords are bid upon and how they are categorized.

What can you do?

Be strategic: You can’t stop election season, but you can plan for it.

Here are some steps to take:

Adjust budgets ahead of time

Anticipate the surge in competition (particularly for social in today’s environment) and increase or decrease your ad budget where necessary. Knowing the ad environment will be more crowded helps you make smarter financial decisions. At RNL, we might move a larger chunk of a client’s digital marketing budget ahead of the election season and then focus more on search and minimize social media spending from July to January. This may not make sense to every client’s calendar or reflect the unique nature of a client’s budget, but it is likely to improve results.

Diversify your channels

Social media is just one piece of the puzzle. Consider alternatives like email marketing, SEO, content marketing, or even display ads outside of the most crowded spaces. While it is always important that you use an optimized communication flow and have a specific nurture funnel built, now is the time to lean into nurturing your existing audience and improving this flow as the election possibly affects your flow of new leads. Again, it’s important to work with a strategist to figure out exactly what is right for your programs.

Keep an eye on performance

Continuously monitor and optimize your campaigns. Some audiences may be more resilient to ad fatigue, and you’ll want to double down on what’s working during this chaotic period and be ready to change and move away from things that are not working. This is perhaps the best use case for the importance of the types of performance dashboards that we use with our clients at RNL.

Navigating the ad storm during election season can be tough, but understanding why costs go up—and how to adapt—can help you stay on track.

Remember to focus on niche targeting to avoid overspending, but always make sure your ads stand out with engaging content and keep a close eye on performance. If costs spike on one platform, be ready to shift your budget if necessary or pause until the election cycle ends.

A little planning and flexibility go a long way during election season!