Wisconsin Advertising Project
From 1996 to 2008, the Wisconsin Advertising Project (WiscAds) conducted research investigating how candidates, political parties, and special interest groups communicate with voters. Initially, WiscAds studied campaign television advertisements in the nation’s 75 largest media markets by collecting and analyzing all political advertisements aired on broadcast and cable stations. The scope of the project increased over time, eventually gathering data on all 210 media markets in the United States. This unique database has been made possible through a technology developed by the Campaign Media Analysis Group (CMAG).
The WiscAds database contains data on campaign television ads aired for the 1996 general election as well as primary and general elections in 2000, 2002, 2004, and 2008. The database is maintained by the Elections Research Center at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. For questions, please contact us at wiscads@polisci.wisc.edu.
Inquiries about advertisement data for elections from 2010 forward should be addressed to the Wesleyan Media Project.
How Can I Access the Data?
The WiscAds database contains multiple datasets that are available for academic use, covering elections held in 1996, 2000, 2002, 2004, and 2008. The 1996 dataset is available to download below. (Codebook not available).
1996 Data, Excel Format
Use of the 2000, 2002, 2004, and 2008 datasets is subject to agreement with certain terms and conditions. (See the Data Use Agreements below). To access the 2000-2008 WiscAds datasets, please submit a request.
Request access to WiscAds Database
Data Use Agreements for 2000-2008 Datasets
 2000 Data Use Agreement |
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2002 Data Use Agreement |
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2004 Data Use Agreement |
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2008 Data Use Agreement |
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What Files Are Included?
The WiscAds database contains data on campaign television ads aired for the primary and general elections in 2000, 2002, 2004, and 2008. The datasets vary in coverage of the nation’s media markets (DMAs) as well as the electoral contests for which the campaign advertisement was aired.
- The 2000 dataset covers campaign ads for the presidential, U.S. House, U.S. Senate, and gubernatorial contests aired in the 75 largest DMAs.
- The 2002 dataset covers campaign ads for the U.S. House, U.S. Senate, and gubernatorial contests aired in the 100 largest DMAs.
- The 2004 data are split into two datasets, covering (1) presidential campaign ads and (2) campaign ads for the U.S. House, U.S. Senate, and gubernatorial contests, all of which aired in the 100 largest DMAs during the years 2003 and 2004.
- The 2008 data are split into two datasets, covering (1) presidential campaign ads and (2) campaign ads for the U.S. House, U.S. Senate, and gubernatorial contests, all of which aired in all 210 DMAs during the years 2007 and 2008.