Political Campaigns Bring Broadcast Habits To CTV Advertising
Political campaigns are shifting ad budgets to connected TV, but old broadcast habits may lead to waste, according to AdExchanger. This could cost them billions in the midterms.
Original reporting · adexchanger.com
Original: “Political Campaigns Are Bringing Broadcast Habits To CTV. That Could Cost Them Billions”
Read “Political Campaigns Are Bringing Broadcast Habits To CTV. That Could Cost Them Billions” at AdExchanger →
How this was written. The 5:45 wrote this article with a language model from AdExchanger’s reporting (model: @cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast); it describes that reporting rather than adding to it. The original, linked above, is the full story.
Key points from AdExchanger’s report
- Political campaigns are shifting ad budgets to connected TV, but old broadcast habits may lead to waste.
- CTV gives campaigns tools to be more precise in targeting voters, but many revert to broadcast-era strategies.
- Campaigns should use audience intelligence to determine who belongs in the CTV buy and how to divide resources among channels.
Political campaigns are set to spend over $11 billion on advertising in the midterms, with a growing share on connected television (CTV), AdExchanger reported. However, shifting budgets to streaming without changing the thinking behind it can lead to significant waste.
The industry has long debated the shift from linear to streaming and broadcast to CTV, and how quickly budgets should migrate. As viewers move to streaming, advertisers have followed, but many campaigns are bringing old broadcast habits to CTV.
Campaigns spend considerable time and money determining which voters matter, building voter files and modeled audiences. They identify likely supporters, opponents, donors, and persuadable voters, and this audience-first thinking should carry through to CTV advertising.
Traditional TV buying requires broad strokes, choosing media markets, programs, and demographic groups. In contrast, CTV gives campaigns tools to be more precise, but many revert to broadcast-era targeting strategies, buying impressions against wide geographies or audience groups.
Campaigns should begin with the voters they need to reach and use CTV's targeting capabilities to find them. They should identify people who have already taken the desired action or are unlikely to move, rather than continuing to spend money reaching them.
Viewing behavior can make CTV strategies smarter, signaling where and how to reach voters. A household that watches free, ad-supported streaming services presents a different advertising opportunity than one that pays to avoid commercials.
As billions of dollars pour into advertising during the midterms, campaigns that get the most from CTV will use data and targeting capabilities to reach the voters who matter, learn from how those audiences consume media, and adjust their communications accordingly.
Questions and answers
What is the problem with political campaigns bringing old broadcast habits to CTV?
This can lead to a tremendous amount of waste, as CTV gives campaigns tools to be more precise in targeting voters.
How can campaigns use CTV more effectively?
Campaigns should begin with the voters they need to reach and use CTV's targeting capabilities to find them, and identify people who have already taken the desired action or are unlikely to move.
What is the importance of audience intelligence in CTV advertising?
Audience intelligence can help campaigns determine who belongs in the CTV buy, who needs to be reached elsewhere, and how to divide resources among channels.
