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2024’s election is a huge boon for digital advertisers: and for many CTV publishers, it may be their first time diving in. In this blog post, we explain what you need to know to get the most out of this.
Every four years, American publishers are handed a huge gift, a big burlap sack with a dollar sign on it: the Presidential Election.
Political ad spending in the U.S. is expected to land somewhere between $10 billion and $12 billion in 2024, shredding the previous record. Every available advertising space, from traditional media to the latest digital platforms, is being snatched up by political candidates and PACs. While midterm races for House and Senate seats generate substantial ad dollars, the sheer magnitude of spending during a U.S. Presidential election is unparalleled.
This is especially true in the realm of CTV advertising. During the last major U.S. election cycle, CTV was less-established, and it’s been a busy four years of explosive growth in the industry. CTV political ad spend may increase by roughly 506% from 2020 compared to 2024. CTV ads are expected to make up around 45% of total digital advertising spend, up from 19% during the 2020 cycle.
In a word: ka-ching!
But there’s more to this potential bonanza than a much-needed cash injection for online publishers. This influx of business also brings with it challenges and concerns you’ll need to keep in mind if you want to take full advantage of what election years have to offer.
In this blog post, talk about the benefits and pitfalls of CTV advertising during election years. Read on:
Case Study: find out how OKO was able to boost Loop Media’s revenue by 500% — on the first day.
Why US Elections Generate Money
The United States is known around the world for having an unusually-long election season. While in other countries, campaigning for political office only really happens in the closing weeks leading up to the election, US Presidential races stretch out across years. Donald Trump announced he was running again in November 2022, two full years before voters would head to the polls.
Though most candidates don’t typically announce their intentions that early, campaign cycles begin well over a year before the election, with staggered primaries for both political parties starting all the way back in January, culminating with official nominations for the two candidates at large-scale political conventions over the summer.
Those nominating conventions, however, are just the beginning in some ways, with the closing months of the election cycle turning into a full-court press of appeals to voters. On top of that, recent Supreme Court rulings have opened the proverbial floodgates of “dark money,” in the form of Political Action Committees (PACs) and advocacy groups no longer having to disclose the sources of their donations.
All of this means a multi, multi-billion dollar influx of ad dollars for anyone with ad space available. In recent years, connected TV (CTV) has emerged as a powerful channel for brands looking to engage audiences and maximize the reach of their messaging — so this time around, the rising tide of electoral spending will lift the CTV boat as well.
Why CTV Appeals To Political Candidates
Though the 2024 election feels in some ways like a retread of 2020’s, with the same candidates returning to the field, a lot has changed in digital advertising over the past four years. Chief among those changes has been a surge in year-over-year spending on CTV advertising. As businesses have begun migrating more and more to CTV channels, the benefits have become apparent:
- Targeted Reach: CTV allows for precise targeting based on demographics, interests, and viewing behaviors. Those are must-have items for political campaigns trying to reach their likely voters.
- Engagement and Viewability: Unlike traditional TV advertising, CTV ads are often unskippable, displayed during natural breaks in content, and 100% viewable. That can mean greater effectiveness than other forms of digital advertising.
- Affordability: Just because political campaigns have millions of dollars to play with doesn’t mean they’re eager to waste it. The surgical targeting afforded by CTV channels allows campaigns to direct spend very specifically, meaning they’re not airing ads for a Congressional candidate outside of their district, or showing up for voters who are a lost cause.
- Cross-Device Integration: CTV campaigns integrate well with other digital channels such as mobile and desktop, providing a cohesive omnichannel experience. This helps reinforce campaign themes and calls-to-action across multiple touchpoints.
If this all sounds overwhelmingly positive, it is. But that’s not to say there aren’t risks to running political ads on your CTV channels. As with anything else in business, there are things to keep in mind:
Concerns and Drawbacks
It’s uncontroversial to say that politics are controversial. Advertisers and publishers already concern themselves with whether an ad for light beer or potato chips are well-aligned to the content they’re appearing alongside, and that content pales in comparison to ads meant to help choose “the leader of the free world.”
One important thing to keep in mind is staying in tight compliance with all relevant privacy laws, which have gotten stricter in 2024 and may affect political content more-particularly depending on the jurisdictions you operate in. CTV is generally already prepped for the cookieless world, but data collected around elections can be valuable — and sensitive. Make sure you’re prepared to collect and store your data properly.
A side effect of America’s exceedingly-long election cycles is that people are often, to put it mildly, completely sick of political content by the time they cast their votes. The various campaigns for Presidential and lower offices, or the official campaigns and political action groups don’t always coordinate with one another before beginning an ad push.
So making sure you’re keeping an eye on ad frequency is another key point. You don’t want viewers to start transferring the negative feelings they have towards seeing the same candidate’s ad over and over into negative feelings about your programming.
With all this money flying around, this is also prime time for ad fraud. So ensuring you’re taking all the usual precautions to prevent fraudulent traffic will help safeguard your bottom line — as well as your reputation.
Additionally, some political ads don’t play nice. To elicit an emotional response from voters, some campaign ads (particularly ones from dark-money PACs) may use disturbing content, imagery, or language to frighten or enrage viewers. Blocking specific ads that aren’t in alignment with your site’s content ensures your brand safety stays in the green.
Getting The Most From An Election Year
Once you’ve checked your safeguards and eliminated any potential pitfalls from your strategy, the next step is to make sure you’re not leaving any money on the table. Ways to do that include:
- Contextual Targeting: While campaigns will be gulping down inventory wherever they can find it, some slots will be more appealing than others. Contextual targeting aligns political ads with election-related content such as news updates, debates, or analysis programs. Viewers watching that content may be uniquely-primed for political advertisements — and less likely to get sick of it.
- Increase Inventory: If there’s any way to increase inventory on your content, now would be a good time to do so. Demand for ad space during election seasons is going to skyrocket, and while you don’t want to irritate your viewers with too many ads, a few more here and there likely won’t hurt. It will also ensure you have sufficient inventory to avoid turning away paying advertisers.
- Ad Verification: Political campaigns are rightly concerned about brand safety, ad fraud, and anything else that would concern a top-tier advertiser. Showcasing that you’ve got solid strategies in place to guarantee smooth sailing will help.
- Attribution: Political campaigns live and die on data. Showcasing you’ve got solid attribution strategies, transparent data, and accurate performance metrics will make you a valuable partner.
- Dynamic Pricing: if Wendy’s can toy with the idea of dynamic pricing models, CTV publishers absolutely can. During various peaks in election season — the national conventions, the Presidential debates, the final week of the campaign — implementing pricing that reflects the change in supply and demand could help give your revenue an extra boost.
Final Thoughts
In conclusion, democracy is good for business. Political candidates looking to exercise their right to “free” speech will pay your CTV channels handily for the privilege of addressing their voters. And assuming you take some sensible safeguards, a big-ticket election like 2024 could help provide insurance against leaner times down the road.
If you’re a publisher looking to make the most of this election season, OKO Digital stands ready to assist. You can get started today by reaching out to our team. With a focus on transparency and driving revenue, OKO Digital is a reliable partner in the world of adtech.
