(The Center Square) – Political advertising in North Carolina is projected to be $362 million in the 2024 election cycle, 11th-highest in the country.

The Political Projections Report predicts a record $10.69 billion spent on advertising across the nation. North Carolina, one of seven consensus battleground states, trails Pennsylvania, Arizona and Michigan.

The report was released on Monday by advertisement tracking company AdImpact.

While this is down $71.11 million from a previous report, significant funds from Republicans and Democrats during the presidential primary season making North Carolina seventh-highest in the nation at $172 million.

Political interest groups will play a major role in ad spending in the 2024 election.

Planned Parenthood is one of those, with North Carolina and other swing states in its sights for a targeted ad campaign looking to flip the state. For 60 years in 14 presidential elections, only Gerald Ford (1976, to Jimmy Carter) and John McCain (2008, to Barack Obama) among Republican candidates failed to carry the state.

The Political Projections Report anticipates a 19% growth in advertising in the upcoming election cycle over the 2020 election season.

Already, up to June 30, AdImpact has “detected more than 7.4K unique political TV ads, 700 more than 2022 and 2.6K more than 2020 over the same period.”

Yet, with 124 days until the Nov. 5 election, AdImpact says “the true spending season has not yet started.”