According to Ad Age, there is a broad trend being played out across the advertising landscape. Using data to target audience segments and make smarter media buys in digital. Political numbers absolutely reflect that as digital is replacing traditional ad spend in this vertical.
Politicians are assigning ad budgets for digital. And, online digital advertising is not covered by the “equal time” laws that TV and Radio must abide by.
In fact, Borrell Associates, which tracks and forecasts ad spending, said that a total of $1,415 billion was spent on online advertising by the local, state, and national campaigns this cycle.
One product perfect for political campaigns is advertising on Facebook and Instagram. In fact, $2 out of every $5 spend on political digital ads went to social media sites in 2016 with Facebook the biggest beneficiary.
In addition to Facebook and Instagram, you can reach voters down to the specific household with Household IP Targeting. Direct mail has always been a popular method for politicians, and political direct mail spending did increase 6% from the 2012 election to the 2016 election. However, for digital, it increased 789%!
You can also reach voters on their smartphones while they are on the go with Mobile Conquesting (you can even target by political party affiliation). You can use Native Ads to target by age, issues or where the potential voter has been observed. And, you can reach very specific groups of people with Targeted Display and Video ads across all devices and geographically targeted to the specific area the campaign wants to reach.