"About That" with Carl Mayer: Political Advertising: Episode 2

For access to Active Internationalamp8217s 2024 Local Political Outlook report emailamp160infoactiveinternationalcomAbout Alaina DonnellonAlaina Donnellon has over 15 years of experience at Active International specializing in the local video and audio marketplace She has held positions of increasing responsibility in media buying strategy and account management throughout her career As Senior Vice President Local Media Alaina leads a dynamic team of over 50 media professionals with oversight on all local campaigns Her role involves close collaboration with internal and external partners to craft strategic solutions steering Activeamp8217s clients through the everevolving video and audio landscapeTranscriptCarl Mayer Welcome to About That Iamp8217m Carl Mayer and our topic today Political Advertising Itamp8217s anticipated there will be record spending this political season with just 100 days to go until Election Day With me to discuss this is Alaina Donnellon Senior Vice President of Local Media at Active International Alaina welcome to the showAlaina Donnellon Thanks for having meMayer Now with everything seemingly changing every day how do you keep track of well everything that is changingDonnellon Good question Itamp8217s not easy We have a very large team behind us in the Local Media group of about 50 media professionals Many of them are in direct contact with the stations on a very regular basis in each individual local market And theyamp8217re really really good at keeping their finger on the pulse of all of the information thatamp8217s coming out of the stations all the inventory thatamp8217s changing rapidly especially as weamp8217re in the middle of this election cycle So theyamp8217re able to get us really great real time information that weamp8217re able to analyze quickly and get back to our client agency partners to help educate them and work together to make sure that our campaigns are as successful as they can be during this tumultuous environmentMayer As we record this it was yesterday that President Biden dropped out of the race And a lot of the talk has been about how much money Kamala Harris is getting how much the PACs have raised whatamp8217s the Trump campaignamp8217s response All that is important and itamp8217s worth talking about But the real story for advertisers is whatamp8217s going on in the local markets Can you tell us more about thatDonnellon Yeah So when we think about political spend itamp8217s easy to think about a lot of the larger states that we think of as presidential swing states So thereamp8217s obviously a lot of money thatamp8217s being poured into states like Pennsylvania Arizona Georgia Nevada and thatamp8217s going to continue to happen especially as things unfold as we get closer to the election date But what weamp8217re also finding is that thereamp8217s a lot happening in other markets that may not be on everybodyamp8217s radarSo for example Baltimore is a market that is seeing a significant amount of spend because thereamp8217s a very competitive Senate race in Maryland New York and LA which are the two largest and most expensive markets in the country they fall within states that typically lean blue when we look at things on a state level So the presidential campaign isnamp8217t so worried about those states but there happens to be very competitive House races going on in districts within those marketsSo those two markets along with Portland OR which is another market that is seeing a lot of spend for House races theyamp8217re going to be the top three that weamp8217re seeing so far for spend towards House races for this electionMayer Now I hear a lot about campaigns candidate spending versus PAC and committee spending in a practical sense when theyamp8217re buying whatamp8217s the differenceDonnellon There can be a big difference So when we think about candidate spend the candidates are entitled to whatamp8217s called the LUR or the lowest unit rate that a station is going to be able to provide So that really enables them to get a very good rate for their advertising message But the PACs on the other hand the Super PACs and the committeeamp8217s donamp8217t have access to that same LUR So they have to spend a lot more money for that same messageWhat weamp8217re finding this year is that weamp8217re seeing some hybrid ads come together Weamp8217re seeing this particularly from the Republican Senate Committee who has joined ads with some candidates and it has enabled them to get the access to that LUR and help that spend go further So where they would have had to spend a little bit more to maybe get fewer messages out there theyamp8217re able to spend a little bit less on each individual message and spread that around as they go into different marketsMayer If theyamp8217re spending just as much money but at lower prices presumably thatamp8217s going to increase demand You have record amounts already being spent and especially in states that would ordinarily not have gotten that kind of money And who knows how much money is coming in now that thereamp8217s been a change in the Democratic ticketLetamp8217s say Iamp8217m an advertiser who is not a political advertiser I just want to have an effective campaign that runs during the election season How can I accomplish thatDonnellon Being prepared is going to be key So we work with a lot of clients and agencies that are looking for that exact thing So itamp8217s important to know that weamp8217ve all been here before You know our advertisers have been here before Our team certainly has the media sellers have our team has a lot of robust experience navigating through these political cycles And for our advertisers we can help them be prepared and focus on the market nuances that they need to know in order to be able to get through those challengesSome of the things that have worked really well for client partners has been to know when to pivot within the day parts that theyamp8217re looking at for example on a TV campaign or be flexible with the flighting that they have if they can extend a couple of weeks onto their flight if itamp8217s not a timely saleAnother alternative that we have helped clients navigate through is looking at other channels such as CTV which is a great option because it still extends that video message that our advertisers are looking for when they think about TV but in a much less cluttered environment that weamp8217re seeing in the broadcast and cable spaceMayer Now this is a broad and fascinating topic Thereamp8217s no way that in one episode of the show we could really get fully into it Luckily for all of us you and the team just released a report getting into much more depth about political advertising And if you would like toamp160request that reportamp160you can do so with the link in the description for this video Alaina Donnellon thank you very much for taking your finger off the political pulse just for a moment to join us here on About ThatDonnellon Thanks for having meView our previous episode of About ThatPosted at MediaVillage through the Thought Leadership selfpublishing platformClick the social buttons to share this story with colleagues and friendsThe opinions expressed here are the author39s views and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillageorgMyersBizNet

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"About That" with Carl Mayer: Political Advertising: Episode 2

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