Less Than Six Weeks Out: How Political Advertising Buyers and Sellers are Navigating the 2024 Election

With the irregularities of the 2024 election amp8211 punctuated by President Joe Biden exiting the race on July 21 amp8211 political spending is estimated to surpass even the hotly contested 2020 presidential race On September 10 amp8211 virtually the 60day countdown to election day MFM hosted a Town Hall moderated by Jack Myers media ecologist and founder of MediaVillage Myers brought on two experts amp8211 Alaina Donnellon Senior Vice President Local Media at Active International and Beth Daly Director of Political Advertising at Effectv amp8211 to give participants a clear understanding of the spending landscape through this election cycleAfter positing amp8220thereamp8217s a lot of unpredictability and itamp8217s a bit of a guessing game at both the local and national levelsamp8221 Myers asked the two panelists about the political trends theyamp8217re observing in this election they might not have seen in past electionsEffectvamp8217s Beth Daly who has been on the sell side of political ads for many years said amp8220It used to be broadcastcableradio but now political buyers and consultants are very sophisticated Theyamp8217re not looking at what theyamp8217re buying but who the audience isamp8230theyamp8217re buying that media irrespective of the platform amp8211 they just want to reach their audienceamp8221Alaina Donnellon whoamp8217s on the buy side said she has noted amp8220a significant increase in spend on digital platforms It didnamp8217t come onto the scene until 12 elections cycles ago but Harris is spending half of a nearly 400 million budget on digital Itamp8217s more than we even anticipatedamp8221Myers followed with amp8220What percentage of incremental ad spend is going to digitalamp8221 with Donnellon answering that while AdImpact had previously predicted 10 going to digital she thinks it may be as high as 15 Daly reminded viewers that amp8220amp8230digital is just one tool in the toolshed amp8211 cable radio network spot broadcast amp8211 theyamp8217re just buying audiencesamp8221 and that local will be big amp8220The six battleground states PA AZ GA MI NV and WI pare going to buy local These elections are local so local media makes the most senseamp8221The panelists were quick to point out the distinctions between ad spending by the candidates themselves which is capped and spending by PACs which has no cap but whose ads must go through a review process Donnellon said amp8220PACs will continue to spend significantly a lot of money to keep their messages on the air amp8211 and theyamp8217re high prices and have unlimited fundraisingamp8221 Daly noted amp8220PACs tend to be more aggressive Well over 75 of our spending has been PACrelatedamp8221One of the three polling questions webinar participants were asked was amp8220How are you planning to manage the potential surge in political ad spending during the final weeks of the election cycleamp8221 and 54 of respondents said they planned to reallocate ad inventory giving political ads priority over traditional advertisers Said Daly amp8220When inventory gets tight candidates can buy at a higher rate amp8211 and many doamp8221 Donnellon added amp8220Itamp8217s challenging to manage all this inventoryamp8230weamp8217re definitely seeing premiums apply to political advertisingamp8221Myers then asked about the significance of Advanced TV and settop boxes for data collection and analysis microtargeting and revenues The two panelists seemed to agree that while these technologies are still comparatively new Advancedaddressable TV will be a significant source of revenue Daly commented amp8220Thereamp8217s a real appetite for the microdata these political campaigns and PACS have access toamp8221Do both panelists think the election may result in 10B of ad spending or more amp8211 a number predicted by several analysts At the time the webinar was recorded Donnellon said amp8220I think so itamp8217s more a shift in where the money is being spent We had a slower start amp8211 more so for state races Now that weamp8217re getting closer to the election thereamp8217s more fundraising on the presidential campaign level being backloaded into these last 60 days Daly added amp8220Right now Iamp8217d say theyamp8217re going to spend it all and theyamp8217ll spend it where it makes sense for themamp8221One sentiment both panelists echoed is the critical nature of constant communication between campaigns ad buyers ad sellers and the advertising platforms amp160Donnellon said amp8220We canamp8217t stress communications enough We have to make sure things are still moving and if we have to make adjustments we canamp8221Daly concurred amp8220The onus is on the sales organizations to serve the political clients really well Itamp8217s a good business amp8211 thereamp8217s cash up front and thereamp8217s no posting We work late hours and weekends the buyers are spending a lot of money and the sales organizations need to cater to those high value clients It all comes down to communication and the approach staying close to the buyers and their clientsamp8221If youamp8217re an MFM member and missed this fastmoving and very timely Town Hall webinar youamp8217ll have the opportunity to watch or rewatch it in early October Just log in to your MFM member account and go to the Knowledge Center to viewPosted 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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Less Than Six Weeks Out: How Political Advertising Buyers and Sellers are Navigating the 2024 Election

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Krista Van Lewen

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