With an expected $1.3 billion in political advertising to be spent on Connected TV in 2024, campaigns have a crucial impetus to “get it right” as linear broadcast TV remains a key media choice. Now, a new Madhive local Connected TV marketplace is designed to further boost OTT campaigns.
The local Connected TV marketplace is specifically for political advertisers, Madhive says.
In particular, buyers “will be able to combat fragmentation, streamline activation and navigate inventory scarcity” for the 2024 election season.
While some may see this as a poaching of linear TV dollars, think again: As part of the Madhive launch, Fox Television Stations will be first-to-market as one of the pioneer clients leveraging Madhive’s political offering.
“We are very excited to offer our FLX CTV product and our partnership with Madhive to the growing OTT political marketplace,” says Michael Page, FOX Television Stations’ Senior VP of Digital Sales. “Our ability to target every congressional district in the country using the combination of FLX’s scale and Madhive’s award-winning technology provides an excellent opportunity for campaigns of all sizes to target potential voters. FOX’s expertise in handling high-volume buys and the significant targeting capabilities of our FLX product in all 210 DMAs make us a must-use resource for nearly every race in the country.”
The Madhive product includes access to political data partners including Datatrust, TargetSmart, Experian and L2, as well as ACR segments specifically intended for political targeting. It also includes privacy-compliant first-party data onboarding, which enables customer data to be securely uploaded and activated within 24 hours.
Madhive’s pre-curated political supply product includes premium inventory from major programmers, OEMs, and streaming platforms to bolster national and local scale.
Additionally, Madhive’s Connected TV planner tailors media plans for political campaigns by leveraging IAB categories to target publishers accepting political ads.
On top of its Connected TV Advertising Software Platform, Madhive has created a portal to track political pacing and campaign estimates to help clients navigate scarcity and predict potential pricing fluctuations during the political season.
Kristin Wnuk, the SVP of Sales at Madhive and a media ad sales veteran, commented, “Because we serve billions of local CTV impressions across all 210 DMAs, Madhive is uniquely positioned to identify local voters at national scale based on a variety of parameters including geography, demographic, interests and political party – all while ensuring consumer privacy. What’s more is we can go beyond DMAs and target by congressional district, which can be a less precise way to reach political constituents. Additionally, our party-neutral political offering will provide AI-powered insights into performance and campaign clearing, which enables in-flight optimization based on outcomes from an ecosystem underpinned by best-in-class data partners.”
The 2024 election cycle is expected to hit a record $11 billion in advertising spend, with $7.5 billion on down-ballot races and $2.7 billion on the presidential election. Of that, $1.3 billion will be spent on CTV as candidates look to leverage the digital targeting capabilities in tandem with the sight, sound and motion of the most impactful screen in the home as a way to drive results at the polls.
