The Government of the City of Buenos Aires published data on how it distributed official advertising during 2024 through its Undersecretary of Social Communication. They were $99,002 million, which in real terms implied a reduction compared to 2023.
This amount places the City as the district that spends the most money on official advertising per inhabitant, at least among the most populated in the country, with a significant distance from the rest of the provinces.
The Clarín Group billed 10.7% of the total and it is the most benefited media conglomerate. In addition, more than a third of Jorge Macri’s government’s spending was allocated to street advertising.
The City publishes the data with a greater lag than other districts: the information for 2024 is only known and there are still no statistics for 2025. Furthermore, as is the case with other districts such as the province of Buenos Aires, there is no law that regulates objective criteria for the distribution of the official guideline. It is also not possible to know which campaigns were carried out or which organizations intervened.
The official advertising of Axel Kicillof’s government: who were the media that benefited the most
The City spent $99 billion on guidelines in 2024
According to the official data analyzed by Chequeadothe Macri Government spent $99,510 million on official advertising in 2024. At December 2025 values, it represents an expense of $130,187 million. As confirmed to this medium by the Buenos Aires Government, this includes advertising spending by the 3 branches of the State.
However, in real terms, that is, discounting the effect of inflation, it represents a reduction of almost 9% compared to 2023, the last year of the administration of Horacio Rodríguez Larreta (PRO), who was a pre-candidate for president of the Nation in the elections of that year.
What is known about 2025? The budget execution data reaches up to the third quarter and reveals that between January and September 2025 The Macri Government spent $92 billion on the item “advertising and propaganda”, although it is not yet possible to know the recipients of those funds.
The City is the district that spent the most in official guidelines in 2024
The $99,002 million spent by the Buenos Aires Government in 2024 give it first place among the jurisdictions that spend the most on advertising.
That year, the City spent 140% more than the government of the province of Buenos Aires, 930% more than the government of Córdoba and 1200% more than that of Santa Fe. It is also the district that spent the most when compared per inhabitant. The City spent $32 thousand per inhabitant, while Córdoba spent $2,430; the province of Buenos Aires, $2,360; and Santa Fe, $2,039.
Máximo Merchensky, Undersecretary of Social Communication of the Buenos Aires Government, pointed out to Checked that the City has a “single fund” over which “exhaustive control” is exercised and that official advertising is not hidden through other decentralized entities, as happens in other districts, as he noted.
The City’s spending is comparable to that of YPF: in 2024 the oil company with a state majority spent $97 billion on advertising, in a context in which the national government reduced the official guideline of the central administration to a minimum. However, in response to requests for access to public information presented by the Checking Data Centerthe oil company refuses to inform in which media it advertises.
YPF practically maintained its advertising expenses in 2025 and allocated almost $ 129 billion
More than a third of the expenditure is for public advertising
In 2024 the Jorge Macri’s government allocated $33,796 million for street advertising, more than a third of the total spent on advertising.
However, it is not possible to know who the recipients were because only the formats are published and not the benefited companies. This category includes advertising on street furniture, on LED screens, in shopping centers, static in sports shows, airports and buses, among others.
The second area where the Macri Government spent the most in its first year in office was television, with $31.9 billion, which is divided into $10.6 billion for free-to-air television channels in the City and the rest for channels from the rest of the country and cable signals.
Internet ($11.8 billion), radio ($6.5 billion), graphics ($3.4 billion) and cinema ($367 million) complete the distribution. On the other hand, the City invested $2.5 billion in neighborhood media, in compliance with the Law No. 2,587 sanctioned in 2007.
The media groups that received the most publicity
The Clarín Group received 10.7% of all advertising in the City, about $9,717 million. The top 5 media groups that received the most publicity are mainly completed by foreign media companies with a strong presence in the cable signals industry.
Disney – owner of ESPN and numerous cable signals – took $5,833 million; and Viacom -then owner of Telefe and various cable signals- received $5,481 million.
In fourth place is the Warner-Discovery group – owner of cable signals and also of the TNT Sports signal, which has the broadcast rights of the Professional Soccer League – with $ 4,194 million; and fifth place went to the Werthein Group, owners of all DirecTV assets in the country, with $3,213 million.
Only between the sixth and tenth place of the most beneficiaries appear local media and content producers: Grupo América ($2,188 million), Grupo Indalo ($2,147), Grupo Octubre ($1,730 million), Grupo Olmos ($1,570 million) and the La Nación group ($1,459 million).
Although there is no law that regulates the distribution, Merchensky explained to this medium that it is distributed with a “professional criterion” that takes into account 2 factors: firstly, the rating and the expected impact, and secondly, amplifying the plurality of voices by supporting media that do not have as much audience.
Yes, there is a rule that forces the Buenos Aires Government to advertise in neighborhood media.
The distribution of guidelines and audiences: main inconsistencies
Despite not being the highest rated cable channelDirecTV was the pay television signal that received the most advertising, above TN, which leads the segment, while Star Channel and Discovery received more money than C5N in the same area.
In radio, Mitre, La 100, Radio 10 and Pop lead the ranking, in line with the audience they register according to Kantar Ibope. However, the third FM station that receives the most money is Radio Con Vos ($368 million), which according to Kantar Ibope data It is not among the 10 most listened to, while the fifth was FM Milenium and the sixth was CNN Radio, with more than $200 million each, which are also not part of this top 10.
In the digital sphere, Jorge Macri’s government invested more money in the Clarín portal than in that of Infobae or La Nación, which have more visits.
In addition, sites of less relevance in terms of visits, such as the Canal 13 website, ESPN or Revista Gente, received more money than the El Destape website, one of the 10 most read news sites in the country, according to Comscore data.
In this same area, the money invested in audiovisual platforms such as Disney+ ($319 million), Pluto TV ($208 million), MiTelefe ($114 million), Star+ ($108 million) and Flow ($84 million) stands out.
Below these amounts, the City placed official advertising on sites named after journalists. Among those who received the most were the websites in the name of Antonio Fernández Llorente ($14 million), Gonzalo Sánchez ($11.8 million), Gerardo “Tato” Young ($10.1 million), Débora Plager ($9 million), María Laura Santillán ($6.3 million), Eduardo Feinmann ($6.2 million) and Beto Valdez ($5.4 million). Checked consulted those mentioned but there was no response on this issue until the time of publication of this note.
