Can Your Political TV Strategy Keep Up?

In the last few years, political TV ad spending has evolved from a bi-yearly, planned event into an “always on,” fluid medium. The pace of news, events, and stories has made buyers and sellers need to adapt to speed and data.   

The role of television has also changed in recent years. Traditionally, television was used as a tool for efficient reach, used to implement persuasion and awareness tactics. More precise tactics, such as the Get Out the Vote (GOTV) initiative, were left to channels with greater targeting capabilities, as party-driven campaigns would not want to remind the opposite party to vote. This left the target and GOTV efforts in channels such as digital, social, mobile, and direct mail.   

As the technology supporting TV advertising has become more automated and data-driven, TV’s role in the political ecosystem has begun to change rapidly. Sophisticated campaigns, issue advocates, and PACs can now deploy TV with the same speed and accuracy as digital targeting.   

“We just saw streaming officially surpass cable as the most popular way to consume TV content,“ said Mike Schneider, a Partner at Bully Pulpit Interactive. “But treating CTV like a ‘set it and forget it’ extension of a traditional linear TV buy misses the potential impact. It needs to be targeted, optimized, and measured for impact.” 

The lines between linear TV, addressable TV, OTT/CTV, and digital and mobile continue to blur for buyers and sellers, as much as they have for consumers. But the strategy remains the same – how do I engage my core supporters and how do I reach persuadable voters?   

“Political advertisers value hyperlocal marketing strategies, which is what OTT can provide. And with NBC Spot On, political advertisers have access to premium local OTT inventory, including Peacock, enabling clients’ targeted messaging to reach the right voter, at the right time, in a fully engaged and pristine environment” notes Patrick Notley, SVP of Sales, NBCUniversal Local.

Marketers can now use the same data from their digital activations to inform their TV spend in those premium OTT environments. Campaign first-party data, third-party voter registration files, and issue advocacy data can be activated in the TV space as quickly and seamlessly as digital and traditional channels. Speed to market for TV is now measured in hours – not days or weeks.   

The question then becomes, can your media sales organization keep up with the needs of the buyers?  And can your campaign keep up with your opponents? Be as precisely targeted and quickly activated as your digital efforts for your political TV advertising with Cadent Aperture Platform. 

Reach out to learn more Cadent Aperture Platform for publishers.