For its business that isn't related to political causes, Centro purchases 45% of inventory programmatically. According to a company spokesperson, Centro's political operation leans more heavily toward programmatic because its political clients are more digitally-focused than its general client base.
In April 2018, Centro surveyed 50 US digital marketers who work on political campaigns and more than three-fourths of respondents said that programmatic advertising will be a key part of their midterm strategies. Grace Briscoe, vice president of candidates and causes at Centro, spoke to eMarketer about how political advertisers are approaching digital ad buying.
With digital political ad campaigns, is there a lot of constant maintenance?
I started out buying TV and radio and all kinds of traditional media before I moved into digital. And the traditional media is much more “set it and forget it.” You send out the purchase order, you traffic the spots and there's not much else you have to do. With digital, it's hands on every step of the way.
Has programmatic's efficiency made it a natural bedfellow for political advertising?
I think so. The speed has been crucial for political advertisers. The ability to respond in real time, whether that's responding to opposition messaging or an attack ad or a news story. You can move quicker than with other media. When buying digitally, advertisers can find inventory on short notice, which is crucial in time-sensitive political campaigns.
With TV advertising, is there inventory even available on such short notice?
Some of it is available with TV. There's a difference. There is a finite amount of inventory on TV. So they can hit sellouts in a more real way than digital. Digital is a much broader bucket especially when you get into programmatic; where you're tapping into so many sources, there's a lot more fluidity and the ability to turn things around pretty quickly.
Does growth in political programmatic spend just reflect the general growth we're seeing with programmatic?
Absolutely. It's definitely a trend that isn't unique to political, and I think we're seeing it across all industries for advertising: a shift towards more programmatic. And political is following in line with that.
I thought political advertisers may be slower to adopt programmatic because they can be quite cautious.
Political campaigns are very risk averse by nature. It is a zero-sum game and feels like career life or death to them, as opposed to other advertising.
They can be slower to adopt these things. But I do think they've come a long way and have confidence in digital's ability to reach the right voters, be effective in persuading them and fundraising.