For political campaigns in 2022, generating reach across viewing platforms will be a critical part of getting the most from advertising efforts. That means integrating linear TV buying and connected TV given the increased attention OTT/CTV platforms will see this election cycle.
In a trend that accelerated during the pandemic, voters are consuming more media across more platforms, particularly across free, ad-supported streaming apps. The result is that the opportunity to reach new voters on CTV, or increase frequency with voters active across various platforms, has increased dramatically.
Enter FreeWheel’s new audience-based buying tech that allows for unified planning across linear and connected TV. With it, advertisers will be empowered to launch CTV campaigns with custom audience segments and have access to FreeWheel’s premium publisher partners.
“Fragmentation in media consumption is driving similar fragmentation in media buying,” said Buck Cram, Director of Political Advertising at Effectv. “Particularly in political, where linear and digital are often planned and executed by different agencies with different incentives.”
It leads to inefficiency, according to Cram: “Advertising dollars always go further if multi-screen planning and execution is unified around data and audience.”
FreeWheel’s audience-based approach incorporates segments based on aggregated Comcast viewership data. The goal is a unified planning approach that ensures incremental reach on CTV campaigns relative to their existing linear campaigns.
“This enables agencies to effectively reach their audiences across their connected devices with limited waste through a data centric approach,” said Al Behmoiras, Senior Manager of Strategic Partnerships at FreeWheel. “Households that have either not seen the ad on linear, or have seen the ad on linear with a frequency cap, will be served CTV ads.”
The importance of effectively connecting the two channels is growing as the media landscape evolves. Linear TV and CTV will continue to drive media strategy, with other platforms proving to be valuable complements, said Jessica Justus, the Director of Digital Strategy at Strategic Media Services.
“There are several major benefits we see in including a streaming component on our clients’ media plans,” said Justus. “One of the biggest benefits is the incremental reach streaming provides. The combination of linear television and streaming also maximizes a campaign’s reach: linear TV still provides the highest reach to a large audience, while streaming helps extend that reach to a more targeted group of people.”
Through the agency’s partnership with FreeWheel Justus said they’ve had the chance to test the new audience activation solution using voter segments with an integrated linear and streaming campaign Strategic Media Services is currently working on.
“The audience activation solution has allowed us to measure true incremental reach across linear and CTV platforms with our voter target,” said Justus. “Our clients are very interested in understanding the incremental reach OTT provides. We find it extremely beneficial to be able to offer them insights that are directly tied to our specific broadcast and cable schedules, which change weekly.”
To learn more about how FreeWheel’s latest capabilities can help you reach potential voters, read more below or email Al Behmoiras.
FreeWheel’s newest self-service TV buying technology enables unified, audience-based planning and activation across premium Connected TV (CTV) inventory for political advertisers.
The solution allows advertisers to build and create custom audience segments and activate complementary, duplicated CTV campaigns with streamlined access to FreeWheel’s premium publisher partners. FreeWheel will be offering this solution to political advertisers this year and looks to expand access to other business sectors in the future.
