Streaming TV grabs a bigger share of political ad spending
- Total political ad spending could top $12 billion
- Streaming ad inventory ‘at scale’ for the first time, says expert
- Streaming popularity has already created inventory shortages, rate hikes
The FuboTV app on a television arranged in New York, US, on Wednesday, Feb. 21, 2024. Fox Corp., Warner Bros Discovery Inc. and Walt Disney Co. were sued by FuboTV Inc. over a proposed sports streaming service, saying the companies wouldn’t allow their smaller rival to carry a bundle of channels. Photographer: Gabby Jones/Bloomberg via Getty Images
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(NewsNation) — As more of us spend more time watching TV shows delivered by streaming services instead of broadcast and cable, political candidates are adjusting their ad spending to adapt.
While broadcast and cable will command most of the political ad spending in the 2024 election cycle, candidates and causes will spend more than triple on streaming channels than they did two years ago: $164 million this year vs. $44.74 million in 2022, according to the advertising data firm AdImpact.
It projects total political advertising in the 2024 election cycle will be $10.2 billion, while the marketing site Emarketer predicts it will be $12.32 billion.
“This is the first presidential election where connected television advertising has been available at scale,” said Mark Jablonowski, president and CTO of DSPolitical, which helps Democratic campaigns with their digital advertising efforts. “Four years ago, it just wasn’t there,” he told Fast Company.
The “scale” Jablonowski refers to is the mushrooming popularity of not just cable substitutes like YoutubeTV, Sling and Fubo, but “FAST” (Free Ad-Supported Television) channels like Tubi, Freevee and the hundreds of specific interest channels available via Roku, Chromecast and Fire streaming devices.
And streaming is no bargain. Demand for ad time has already driven up rates to about the same as traditional TV. The TV maker Samsung says political advertisers are paying between $50 and $70 per thousand video ad views, but in some markets the prices have spiked to as much as $100.
Adding to the cost is irregular, inconsistent streaming landscape. Two of the biggest streamers, Netflix and Amazon, which recently introduced ads to their lower-priced subscriptions, don’t accept political ads. Unlike broadcast and cable TV channels, steaming services are not legally bound to accept political ads.
Roku, which facilitates more than 30-billion hours of programming every quarter, has published strict guidelines for content creators who accept political ads. Among the guidelines: ads must be for bona fide candidates or ballot measures; the ads may not undermine “participating or trust in electoral or democratic processes”; ads may not contain “deep fakes”; and the ads may not be financed by foreign countries or nationals.
Despite the roadblocks, campaigns are flocking to streaming, making it no oasis from the constant, well, stream, of “vote for me” ads on your TV.
