Political candidates are running advertising campaigns earlier than in past elections, and 2022 budgets are already outpacing 2020 by around $700 million. With the political market flooded with candidates, advertisements must reach a niche audience with a high propensity to turnout. Advertising budgets are shifting based on the way people consume content, but which platforms should win your political spending this election year?

Political Spend on Social Platforms

With every election cycle, social media has seen an increase in political advertising dollars. Culturally, 2018 was considered the Twitter election, but now the fast-growing TikTok is predicted to be the primary choice for political advertising as candidates can reach the younger demographic that traditionally has a lower turnout. 

That sounds like a solid strategy. However, with moves to limit political content, purchasing and delivering political ads on social platforms has gotten more complicated. TikTok recently said it would not allow influencers and creators to post any paid political content prior to midterms, while Meta said it would pause all new political ads the week before midterms. 

Imagine if you could run campaigns up to the election date. With El Toro, all political candidates can launch a campaign on the same day they spend within a matter of hours. Before your ads are launched, all creative assets undergo a rigorous audit process to ensure there is no prohibited or restricted content and the ad meets advertising guidelines. Also, for political candidates and initiatives, all creative assets must include a "paid-for-by" statement. The audit process and guidelines make sure that your ads deliver a high-quality experience. 

Political Spend on TV Streaming Services

The limitations of advertising on social platforms have led candidates and agencies to explore advertising on TV streaming services. The streaming service industry is heavily saturated, with the average consumer having 12 paid subscriptions. Think of the number of paid subscriptions you currently have. How many of those platforms are ad-supported services? 

Ad-supported streaming platforms present a huge opportunity for candidates and agencies as political ads can reach everyone in a household across the nation. For 2022, CMAG estimates $1.2 billion in political spending on OTT and CTV. The estimated spending is no shock; these platforms offer more accurate targeting to niche audiences utilizing anonymized consumer analytics and data such as age, income, and voting preferences. El Toro’s diverse selection of political data providers allows candidates and agencies to precisely link a user to their device, allowing for more ad granularity.

The Votes Are In

The reality is that users are watching on several ad-supported streaming platforms and using multiple social platforms daily. Political advertising on either streaming or social platforms can be beneficial, no doubt. It comes down to the campaign's objectives. Advertising on social platforms provides broad-awareness advertising to lower turnout groups. In contrast, advertising on streaming platforms provides targeted advertising with consumer analytics and data. When working with El Toro, political advertising is made easy in several ways:

1. Extended service hours: All political clients have extended coverage from 8:30 am to 8:30 pm EST on Mondays through Fridays and call coverage from 8:30 am to 5:30 pm EST on Saturdays and Sundays. 
2. Real data and analytics: Candidates and agencies have access to real anonymized footfall traffic. This eliminates waste in advertising spending and ensures your ads are precisely delivered to a constituent most likely to convert with a 95% confidence level.  
3. Next-level reporting and attribution: Candidates and agencies have access to our MatchBack Analysis, a free reporting option to identify conversions and simply calculate return on advertising spend (ROAS). 
4. Results Guarantee: If a client uses El Toro’s IP Targeting technology for any GOTV Campaign of over $100,000 and we don’t increase turnout among targeted voters by 5%, we’ll give you 50% of your money back. Details can be found at https://eltoro.com/political-guarantee-2/.

Political Case Study

Discover how one of our most recent political agency clients struck major success with the El Toro difference:

Client: A Nevada-based political agency with 40+ years of experience previously worked with a 100% cookie-based digital marketing firm.

Problem: The agency was not pleased with the results with the cookie-based firm and became interested in El Toro’s targeting abilities after attending our political webinar. 

Objective: Gain a competitive edge. The client wanted to offer consulting and creative management services along with an accurate method to reach constituents. The ability to attribute those who voted to those targeted was essential. 

The El Toro Solution: Utilizing our patented IP Targeting technology, we matched the physical addresses of households and apartment buildings from the provided voter files to the IP addresses within days. Our Matchback Analysis provided in-depth reporting to prove which targets voted for the candidate in question. 

Results:

• 521,466 total voters resulting from El Toro targeted ads 
• 110% Conversion Rate 
• 64% of candidates won their primary

To learn more about how El Toro’s bullseye adtech can get the most out of your political spending, reach out to our team today or read more about our political adtech.