Hearst CEO Steve Swartz lauded his company for achieving a record $13 billion profit last year, but warned the media giant will have a difficult time repeating that success in 2025, due in part to an expected “massive drop off” in political advertising, The Wrap reports.
How Trump Targeted Undecided Voters
New York Times: “The Harris side, awash in cash, mostly ran streaming television ads the old-fashioned way — targeting by geography…”
“The Trump side layered its advertising strategy to serve fewer streaming ads to those it believed were seeing ads on other channels, and more to those who were not.”
Meta Extends Ban on Political Ads
“Meta will extend its ban on new election ads for the week leading up to the election until several days after the polls close,” Axios reports.
“The ban on new political ads was initially supposed to expire at 11:59 p.m. PT on Election Day, but Meta is extending the ban to prevent any confusion or misinformation from spreading while votes are still likely being counted.”
The Last Frontier for Political Ads
A small Democratic PAC is running ads on porn sites, NPR reports.
“The ads are simplistic: a five second static image the viewer must see before they can hit “skip” to get to the video they’re there to watch. The image has ominous music and features things like a woman in lingerie with this message: ‘Trump’s Project 2025 will ban porn. Enjoy while you can.’ The ads also instruct the viewer to ‘Google Trump porn ban.'”
Late Lawsuit Could Shape Political Ad Wars
“A legal battle is playing out in D.C. federal court that could determine how much money the Democratic and Republican Parties can pump into advertising in pivotal congressional races in the final week of the 2024 campaign and beyond,” the New York Times reports.
“At issue is what Democrats say is a potentially illegal political advertising strategy that Republicans have used in recent weeks to try to overcome a significant fund-raising deficit in states with critical Senate races, such as Arizona and Pennsylvania.”
“With less than two weeks until Election Day, House Democrats’ campaign arm has sued the Federal Election Commission for failing to stop the Republicans and are seeking a ruling to either bar the practice or clear the way to use it themselves.”
Children in GOP Lawmaker’s Ad Are Not Hers
Texas state Rep. Caroline Harris Davila (R) put out a campaign ad ending with Davila and her husband posing with four children in an “idyllic family shot,” the Texas Tribune reports.
However, the kids are not hers.
“In the ad, Harris Davila says she’s protecting ‘our future,’ and she’s seen patting the smallest of four kids on the back while smiling and talking with the other three. In the final shot, she picks up that boy while Darrell Davila puts his arm around the second-smallest boy, smiling for the camera.”
Inside the Harris Advertising Strategy
The Bulwark: “When it comes to television, the campaign is largely focused on abortion, taxes, housing, and healthcare, according to a CNN breakdown of the spending. The topic of the 2020 election—Trump’s attempt to overturn the result, the events of January 6th, and what all this means for the future of American democracy—has been largely reserved for online political warfare and earned media mentions to juice the political press into reporting on the issue.”
“That decision doesn’t mean that Harris’s team is simply ignoring election denialism or threats to democracy, just that it’s emphasizing those themes online instead of on TV.”
Democrats Dominate Political Ad Spending — Except on X
“Democrats are massively outspending Republicans on internet campaign ads but one social network is a notable exception: X, owned by Elon Musk, who has increasingly used the platform to elevate his chosen candidate, former president Donald Trump,” the Washington Post reports.
“Accounts backing Republican candidates spent three times as much on political ads on X than those backing Democrats from March 6 to Oct. 1 — $3 million to $1 million.”
“The biggest political ad buyer on X is the official account for Trump, who has formed a close political alliance with Musk in recent months and was joined by the entrepreneur on stage at a rally Saturday. Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign has not bought a single ad on the platform.”
Democrats Find Key to Ads That Move People to Vote
“Progressives feel like they have finally cracked the code on ads that move voter attitudes: straight-to-camera first-person testimonials,” Politico reports.
“That’s the takeaway from a series of new tests by Way to Win, a progressive donor network.”
From the memo: “Early testing shows the ads drive significant shifts in voter attitudes, boost Kamala Harris’s favorability, reduce Donald Trump’s standing, and increase voter turnout. The campaign reaches key voter groups in Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, particularly focusing on Latinos, AAPI communities, young voters, and non-voters from 2020.”
Short Ads Are More Effective
Blueprint: “In our latest ad test, Blueprint examined whether longer ads are worth the added cost by adjusting ad impact for length. For example, since a 60-second ad is four times as long and roughly four times as costly as a 15-second spot, shouldn’t it have four times the impact?”
“The answer is a resounding no: the longer an ad runs, the less efficient it becomes at increasing support for Vice President Harris—suggesting that the best ads are short ones, which hit on broad messages instead of detailed policy plans.”
Kamala Harris Ads Link to Actual News Articles
“If you’re not looking too closely, some recent Kamala Harris ads may give the false impression that some leading news organizations are taking sides in the campaign for president,” the AP reports.
“The advertisements, which have turned up in some Google search feeds, include links to legitimate news stories but feature — in words that appear to be headlines from the originating news organizations — pro-Harris messages written by the Democrat’s campaign.”
“Google and the campaign defend the practice as legitimate and legal, used in the past by both Democrats and Republicans. But it has raised concern from some of the outlets and others.”
Harris Ads Put News Outlets in a Tough Spot
“The Harris campaign has been editing news headlines and descriptions within Google search ads that make it appear as if the Guardian, Reuters, CBS News and other major publishers are on her side,” Axios reports.
” It’s a common practice in the commercial advertising world that doesn’t violate Google’s policies, but the ads mimic real news results from Search closely enough that they have news outlets caught off guard.”
Ohio Democrat Shows Off Gymnastics Skills
Rep. Emilia Sykes (D-OH) launched an ad campaign to coincide with the opening of the Summer Olympics in Paris that features her making a flip off a balance beam.
Campaigns Can Now See What You Watch on TV
NOTUS: “Streaming television is quickly becoming instrumental to campaigning, promising politicians the ability to reach more voters and target them with highly specific ads.”
“But campaigns’ ability to peer into the television habits of voters alarms privacy advocates, who say voters are not properly informed about what’s on their television… Lawmakers have debated for years how to regulate digital ads but have failed to come to an agreement.”
Campaigns’ Favorite Game Show Is About to Change
“When Pat Sajak retires from hosting Wheel of Fortune next month after 41 seasons at the helm, it could upend one of the surest bets of every election cycle going back more than a decade,” the Bulwark reports.
“That’s because in the world of political advertising, Wheel of Fortune is widely considered to be the best bang for your ad-spend buck. While Wheel doesn’t have the massive viewership of Monday Night Football, Thursday Night Football, or even Regular Old Sunday Daytime Football, its audience is quite large, averaging more than 8 million viewers per night. That audience is also highly demographically concentrated: The median viewer is in Nielsen’s oldest tracked category, 65+, which is to say that the show’s viewers belong to the most dedicated bloc of active voters in the country. Wheel also airs in every market in every corner of America and often leads into the nightly news, which adds to its political value.”
Nobody Knows Which Political Ads Work and Why
“Some political ads work a lot better than others. But nobody really knows what will reliably make an ad click with voters,” Politico reports.
“That’s one of the major findings of a new study from researchers who analyzed data from Swayable, a platform used by Democrats to test the effectiveness of different messages and advertisements.”
“The study analyzed more than 600 ads produced by more than 50 campaigns and outside groups across the 2018 and 2020 cycles. Some ads are definitely more effective at influencing vote choice than others, the researchers found, but what voters respond to year-over-year is far less clear.”
RFK Jr. Runs Super Bowl Ad
A super PAC supporting Robert F. Kennedy ran a campaign ad during the Super Bowl which was a remake of his uncle’s famous ad which ran in the 1960 presidential campaign.
Do Political Ads Even Matter Anymore?
New York Times: “Campaign ads are inescapable on the nightly news, ‘Wheel of Fortune’ and YouTube. Even the high-dollar, high-visibility ad blocks of professional and college football games have become increasingly saturated.”
“It’s a deeply entrenched multimillion-dollar industry, and one of the largest expenses of every presidential campaign. But a confluence of political forces and changing media behavior may be testing the efficacy of political advertising in the Trump era.”
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