CTV and Programmatic for Political Campaigns: How CTV and Programmatic to Be Major in Political Advertising
CTV and Programmatic for Political Campaigns: Political campaigns are no longer merely about sloganeering and making the usual pitches to mainly faithful voters but about connecting in meaningful ways with entire demographics across sections of the electorate. The units comprise various racial, ethnic, linguistic, and religious groups.
Therefore, engaging with this highly differentiated electorate is a particularly challenging proposition for political parties and their candidates.
Even if we disregard other factors and consider an age-wise grouping of the electorate, there are six groups – Generation Z, Millennials, Generation X, Baby Boomers, Silent Generation, and Greatest Generation, with Generation Z aged 5-20 years to Greatest Generation old 93-105 years.
In the circumstances, how do political parties and their candidates engage this highly differentiated electorate to pitch their message across the divides of race, gender, color, ethnicity, and, most importantly, political affiliations/inclinations?
CTV and Programmatic for Political Campaigns:
The Power of Video
Politically savvy candidates know nothing is as practical when influencing the electorate to win votes as video.
Video packs the power to draw voters to the polling booths. Video delivers the message across all formats- short-form, long-form, and mid-size clips.
The messages can also be crafted and calibrated to viewer preferences across the spectrum of voter diversity.
But broadcast TV can best offer a ‘one size fits all’ approach, which falls woefully short on targeted messaging, which is the key to pulling voters to the polling booths.
Enter-Connected TV is the surefire way to deliver targeted messages on various devices, including PCs, desktops, and mobile devices.
Candidates that devise their strategy around video across all screens will be better able to win the minds and hearts of the voters, which should be obvious.
Also, viewers will view the message even as they are watching their preferred content will strike a positive chord with them to make critical decisions in favor of the candidate.
OTT or CTV
- Media analysts now report a distinct trend among connected TV (CTV) or Over-the-Top (OTT), with more and more households pulling the cord on traditional cable TV.
- They add that CTV allows them to choose to watch their content when they want to, thus viewing flexibility.
- Connected TV thus puts the user squarely in control of online engagement with internet-connected TV streaming content.
- Candidates must keep this in mind while planning content to engage the audience.
- Though media consumption has been rising, the viewership of traditional TV is falling. More and more advertising agencies are now turning to CTV, and for a good reason- advertising on CTV delivers results for clients.
- With Connected TV, advertising agencies can ensure that their clients’ ads are only shown to the target audience.
- Political candidates can now leverage this targeting ability of CTV. They can base their ads on the device, age, gender, income, etc., to fine-tune their message across various voter groups.
- Their ad strategy will thus help them get the biggest bang for their advertising buck. They can tap into the potential of an engaged and growing audience, which would not be possible by buying advertising slots on traditional TV.
- CTV has thus opened opportunities for enhanced engagement audiences for all advertisers, including candidates for political office.
Programmatic TV
The process of ad delivery is driven by Programmatic TV technology. It helps in the automation of ad delivery. This data-driven process of buying and delivering ads on the internet lets advertisers show different ads to different audiences of the same content. A video streamed by multiple viewers simultaneously does not have the same ads for all viewers.
Video ads created are delivered to the target audience. Advertisers buy ad space, and ea; each user’s profile matches the advertiser’s parameters, and the specific matching ad is displayed. The connected TV technology offers critical viewer metrics for analyzing the ad performance, including:
- How many times were users shown the ad?
- How many times was the ad viewed
- Ad completion rate
Political candidates can thus leverage CTV and Programmatic TV technology to fully engage with their audiences across the electoral spectrum.
Connected TV has been shown to have a higher ad viewership than traditional TV and greater viewer engagement of the ad. Viewers are also more likely to watch the ad through to the end.
Customized targeting:
With connected TV, advertisers can deliver personalized ads to their audience. Users log in to different platforms using their credentials, including their location, device details, online behavior, etc. Advertisers can use the information to gain insights about the user and display ads as per user interest.
Higher ad viewership:
Advertising campaigns devised around bombarding users with ads often prove counterproductive as users tend to block the ads with ad blockers. Connected TV advertising does not have a similar effect on users, thanks to the comparatively lower frequency of ads. People also tend to view the ad to completion due to personalization resulting in higher completion rates.
Interactive ads:
Connected TV supports HD-quality, high-resolution interactive ads, which boosts user engagement. The ads also include animation and call-to-action features, making for better engagement with the audience.
Conclusion
Though current trends show a definite trend among users towards connected TV, analysts are divided on whether CTV will overtake traditional free-to-air TV.
Both technologies will probably co-exist because there is room for both. While traditional TV is watched mainly in our homes’ comfort with the family, CTV is watched on devices primarily by individuals.
The two technologies will, therefore, complement each other and co-exist to enrich our lives in different ways. Political parties and candidates must adapt to the new CTV technology and fully exploit its potential in the political arena to their advantage.
As it stands today, CTV looks poised to take on an increasingly more significant role in the political campaigns of aspirants for political office and their parties. However, whether CTV lives up to its promise or hits a roadblock along with way needs to be seen.
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