US political hopefuls have been using streaming, targeted TV capabilities for a few cycles now.
But never have they been able to leverage the scale, precision and measurement capabilities on offer during the 2022 mid-terms.
In this video interview with Beet.TV, Ashwin Navin, CEO & Co-Founder, Samba TV, says he thinks the current contests are laying the groundwork for a 2024 presidential run that will no longer depend on linear TV spend.
Streaming cycle
“More than half of people today have stopped watching traditional television,” Navin says
“This election is going to be decided by streaming television. It’s the first of its kind, first of its time.
“No longer will the playbook that’s worked in previous elections, of buying thousands and thousands of GRPs in the tail end of the election, going to work anymore because you might miss the electorate completely, or particularly that 1% that’s going to decide the election.”
Voter viewers
Navin’s views come after Samba TV, a company helping facilitate connected TV ads, commissioned election research from Harris Poll. It found:
- 49% of US registered voters have traditional TV.
- A quarter of them plan to cancel int he next six months.
- Independents are least likely to have traditional TV.
- In battleground states, the number of independents with traditional TV is just 39%.
That is the backdrop for what streaming TV sales executives hope will add up to a bumper offering. According to the research:
- 80% of registered voters using streaming TV.
- Democrats in battleground states are more likely to stream video on smartphone than Republicans.
Toward 2022
“This is kind of a prequel for what many are expecting to be a very highly contested election in 2024,” Navin adds.
“What we’re seeing in states like Arizona, where obviously the stakes are quite high, is that 99% of the spend is only reaching half the population – a massive amount of inefficiency.
“You’ve got half the electorate that’s not getting reached at all through traditional television.”
Navin thinks the effects of the mid-terms connected TV spend will be cycled in to the presidential race.
“The outcome is determined on election day,” he says. “You assess what you’ve done, the data sets that you used, the insights that you used, and that that becomes the truth for the next election cycle. 2022 is the test for what’s going to be working in 2024.”
