Political Spend on Social & Digital Media: Navigating the Landscape
1.21.20 | Kelsi Carlson
What role do social and digital media play in political elections? More than you would think. Kantar Media estimates that of the $6 billion+ predicted spend toward the 2020 elections, digital’s take will top $1.2 billion. Other experts predict an even great share of the political spend on digital.
While it is true that broadcast TV will still garner the majority of spend in 2020, digital plays a role that TV can’t. While our attention may be focused on the presidential and other federal races, political spend around state house and senate seats isn’t insignificant. Digital provides tighter geographic targeting and a more affordable option for smaller players to gain a following and build awareness. For races big and small, digital targeting capabilities are more refined, allowing further delivery of relevant ads to voters.
That being said, digital media also has sparked controversy over microtargeting’s invasiveness and the ease at which advertisers can mislead voters. During an election year, political advertisers target people that are more likely to be influenced by their message. Social, in particular, provides a blurred environment between users and brands (despite social networks’ best PR efforts to dispute that). The platforms create a natural environment to deliver any message that is presented in a compelling, engaging way whether it’s true, false, or in between. Voters in 2020 will be more aware of the misinformation traps in the social and digital space in light of the 2016 election, but there are still plenty of people that can be easily influenced.
How the various platforms have reacted to the backlash from 2016 has differed greatly. On one hand, Twitter has banned political ads (that no one was placing anyway). On the other, Facebook has ruled in favor of free speech over the risk of dissemination of misinformation (for what it’s worth, federal candidates’ speech is protected by the first amendment on television as well, but 3rd party issue advertisers are another matter). Google fell somewhere in the middle, limiting targeting options on it’s platforms to age, gender, and general location (postal code level) [1]. What is missing is the ability to upload voter registration databases and other 3rd party data than can improve the targeting and efficiency of media buys. While Google has taken that step, both sides of the aisle have access to demand side platforms (DSPs) that can incorporate 3rd party data such as voter registration and donor lists. Campaigns will also utilize look-a-like targeting to reach not only voters but donors. The look-a-like concept of finding people whose online behavior is “similar” to current campaign donors or potential voters and being able to target them specifically is an indispensable tactic when other targeting options are limited.
The future of free speech, digital and social targeting, and even the presence of political ads in the digital space remains in flux, but one thing we know is, it’s going to be a wild ride!
[1] https://www.blog.google/technology/ads/update-our-political-ads-policy/
https://www.emarketer.com/content/political-ad-spend-to-reach-6-billion-for-2020-election
https://www.cjr.org/the_media_today/political-ads-twitter-facebook.php