Political ad frequency is real problem, according to a new study.
Performance media company Digital Remedy surveyed 1,000 U.S. voters and found that one-third say overexposure to political advertising makes them annoyed with a campaign. The company is also using that finding to support the launch of VoterReach, a new measurement and optimization tool designed to show political advertisers which households they’re reaching, and how often.
The survey and launch of VoterReach follow Digital Remedy’s recent launch of The Political Desk, a dedicated division focused on helping campaigns, advocacy groups, and issue-based organizations manage their digital campaigns.
Why This Matters:
With the midterms upon us, political ad spending is expected to surge. Some estimates predict spend will top $10.8 billion, setting a new record. But those dollars are increasingly spread across a fragmented media landscape, creating new challenges for campaigns.
Digital Remedy’s poll found that 54% of voters encounter political messaging on social media, 39% through local news and 35% on streaming TV. For campaigns, that creates an adtech problem: buying across multiple platforms can increase reach, but it can also mean repeatedly hitting the same people without realizing it.
To that end, Digital Remedy says that VoterReach can give campaigns a household-level view of that duplication across channels/devices, like CTV, mobile, desktop, and tablet. Campaigns can see reach and frequency in the tool by congressional district, ZIP code, DMA, county and state legislative district. Using that data, they can then ID publishers or tactics driving too much frequency.
Obviously, that sort of offering could be useful heading into the midterms, when political ad spending will surge and campaigns have limited time to optimize their budgets.
Experts React:
Here’s what Matt Fanelli, CRO at Digital Remedy, had to say about the launch:
“In modern campaigns, reach alone is no longer enough. Voters are spread across platforms, and too often campaigns are paying to hit the same households repeatedly while missing others entirely. VoterReach helps campaigns understand where they’re gaining true incremental reach, where frequency is excessive, and how to maximize the impact of every dollar in the districts that matter most.”
This feels like a broader theme for Digital Remedy lately. The company also partnered with Arrivalist earlier this month to help travel marketers connect media exposure to actual visits and spending.
Our Take:
Political advertising has become an omnichannel advertising problem. Campaigns can now reach voters across streaming TV, social, websites, mobile, and other forms of online media.
But without a unified view of the exposures, more available inventory can end up being more duplication rather than more voters reached.
AdTechRadar is owned by Chris Harihar, an EVP at Mod Op. Digital Remedy is a Mod Op client.
