Hi,

Welcome (back) to the second of our bi-weekly political advertising newsletter with news political marketers can use to gain an advantage now and throughout the cycle…

Record fundraising continues to be reported from candidates and groups up and down the ballot. While some resources continue to be allocated to ad buys in several upcoming primaries, many campaigns have already begun placing large buys to gain an advantage in the general election.

A massive spending spree by Democrats in recent weeks has kicked off the rush to secure quality inventory with both sides looking now to CTV to help ensure they can reach, persuade and turn out voters in key battlegrounds.  Read on for who’s leveraging CTV already, and how…

Ad Watch: Down-Ballot- Dems Add to Early Buys: Advertising costs on broadcast and cable TV are surging in battleground states, with tightening inventory in many DMAs and districts. This week, Senate Democrats announced a $79 million ad campaign - on top of the $239 million in ads announced last month - to defend seven contested seats across the map.

This follows the House Majority PAC setting aside an unprecedented $186 million for a crucial media push in nearly 60 markets in both defensive and offensive moves in contested races from New York to California, and in between. GOP groups are still finalizing many of their ad plans for the general as they look to hold their majority in the House and flip the Senate this fall.

Ad Watch, Part II: Never Too Early: “You can always raise more money, but you can’t raise more time. It was our decision to move money from the end of the campaign to the beginning because the truth is that by the time you get to a general election, coverage is so saturated that it's very hard to break through,” recalls David Axelrod on a recent Morning Edition.

Key Takeaway:

• As traditional ad costs begin to soar, CTV rates offer campaigns the effectiveness of broadcast, cable and satellite with more precision and efficiency to stretch ad budgets.

Reach out to our team for:

• Media consumption profiles for all battlegrounds, and to secure premium O&O CTV inventory + ACR data, and competitive pricing.

Heard at the 2024 Pollies MasterClass hosted by LG Ad Solutions: “Cracking the Code: CTV + ACR Strategies”:
- John Padua (SVP, Trilogy Interactive): “There's much more nuance involved with performing an ACR strategy well. You need to have partners that do ACR properly and your own ACR stack to have enough reach for an effective ACR strategy.”
- Jaime Bowers (SVP, National Media): “We like to do more linear exclusions and suppression tactics with ACR through the OEMs. And it often depends on the budget and creative for whether we can do conquesting with ACR.”
- Nina Kaplan (Media Director, Rising Tide Interactive): “We're really interested in the intersection of CTV and linear viewership - people who are consuming both is where we’re leaning in and collaborating alot now with our TV partners to find incremental reach.”
- Jessica Justus (VP, Strategic Media Services): “We’re using CTV to find net new households and are very open to including FAST channels in our CTV plans. The eyeballs are there as viewers are channel surfing on FAST like they’ve done on cable or broadcast.”

Fastest Growing FAST is Tubi. Per Nielsen, Tubi’s share of viewing time has jumped from nearly 0% to 1.7% over the past 12 months. And while YouTube and Netflix (who does not accept political ads) still lead all streaming apps in terms of share of viewing time at 9.3% and 7.8%, respectively, Tubi’s 1.7% share of time spent has surpassed Peacock and Max (not accepting political ads either) in 2024.

Brand Insights for Political Marketers - CTV is Driving Ad Growth: The IAB and PwC just released its 2023 Internet Advertising Revenue Report, which estimates 2023 US online ad revenue at $225 billion, up 7.3% YOY and nearly double over the past five years. CTV represents 10% of total revenue ($22 billion) and is noted as the fastest-growing channel in 2024 as consumers increasingly shift to streaming. For more details on the shift to streaming, check out our most recent research study, The Big Shift: Wave III.

Catch us at C&E Digital Campaign Summit May 9 & 10 in DC! Don't miss LG Ad Solutions mainstage session on May 9th, "Empowering Political Marketers: Leveraging OEMs and ACR Data for CTV Campaigns." Learn how to leverage OEM partnerships and ACR technology to apply smarter targeting tactics and gain a competitive advantage in the increasingly fragmented media landscape.

If you missed last week’s inaugural issue of this newsletter - you can check it out here.