There are big changes underway in the online political ad business. Changes that – for once – can help local outlets.
Facebook’s recent decision to financial services and Google’s decision to leave the political ad business in Canada marks a turning point.
The Duopoly has dominated local political ad sales since 2016 – two full election cycles – by doing something that local news outlets seem unable or unwilling to do in the digital environment.
They made it easy to buy online political ads. And they made it cheap. And they took 60% of the billions spent on political ads out of the hands of local news outlets in 2016 and again last year.
But now that rules for disclosure and disclaimers are being enacted, they’re moving away. In Maryland, Washington state and Canada, requirements that Google and other outlets keep and maintain ‘public file’ reporting of political ads spend have encouraged The Duopoly to flee the markets. After all, political ads sales are less than 1% of each company’s gross revenues.
Their departure from this business doesn’t mean, however, that local news outlets can return to business as usual: Selling political as though its only got one point of sale, adding discretionary requirements to state or federal legal requirements, creating last minute political ad rates triple regular CPMs and subjecting political ads to sometimes arbitrary ‘reviews’ are all disincentives for political ad buyers.
The digital ad environment is different than print. There are multiple points of sale and that’s likely to remain true. And it’s looking very much like the rules by which everyone will play will resemble the process television stations have had for years.
So smart traditional publisher should prepare and help create a more friendly digital sales environment. Your calendar may say 2019. Out here in the political world, 2020 is here. So how should your outlet get ready?
Spot-On specializes in direct ad buys for political efforts and advocacy so we have a deep history with buyers and sellers. Here are our suggestions on how to sell to the political market – and help us help you.
1. Know Your Readers
If your outlets has subscribers, it’s pretty easy to tell if they’re voters. Pull the list of registered voters in your circulation area. Run that list against your subscribers. You can use that ratio to tell political campaigns how many voters regularly read your products.
You can also run those subscriber numbers against any newsletters or special apps you offer. Knowing that a firm percentage of say, newsletter subscribers, are voters will make a premium political sale easier to close.
2. Know the Law, Understand Your Place in the Market
Print outlets have come up with a long – needlessly long in our opinion – list of ‘specifications’ used to traffic political ads. Most of them are based on the idea that as the major outlet in a specific market, the outlet needs to protect its readers from untrue claims, inaccurate accusations or the appearance of endorsing a certain political point of view.
Such protections are counterproductive in world where local news sites do not enjoy the same market domination as print. A paper product may have reached 70% of a market; it’s most likely that a digital version of that same product has market penetration closer to 30%.
Spot-On doesn’t object to internal reviews and request for due-diligence and substantiation. We do object to reviews that go well above the law while outlets happily provide inventory at cut-rate prices to those who flaunt the law.
Knowing the rules in your state, knowing the rules for federal disclosure and knowing how to do internal reviews – quickly and consistently – helps platforms like Spot-On bring dollars to your door. If your requirements slow us down or seem needless arbitrary and above the law, we’ll join others buying on the programmatic exchanges – paying less and moving more quickly.
Remember, most political ad dollars are directed by PAC and other entities working outside your local market. They can pick and choose how to spend across a range of outlets and platforms. Local news sites that insist on 20th Century protections in the face of 21st Century realities will lose.
3. Know What’s Coming and Prepare
It’s more likely than not that some form of political ad disclosure will become part of the online environment. The need for a ‘public file’ similar to those kept and maintained by television stations is front and center with lawmakers in Washington, Maryland and in Congress. It’s even made it to Canada.
Outlets who work with elected officials to manage this process will be ahead of the game – and ready to capitalize on Google and Facebook’s departures.
Television stations have run similar programs for years. The necessary first step: Shut down – completely shut down – programmatic ad buying for political campaigns. Black list know political vendors.
4. Know We’re Here to Help
Spot-On’s Pinpoint Persuasion Platform can help with many of the challenges of political ads sales.
We know what customers need and want and we’ve built a platform that allows them to target as though they were on Facebook using direct buys on known outlets. Pinpoint Persuasion can be as transparent as legally required, it can let publishers preview political ad placements and we’re willing to pay a pre-set political rate.
More importantly, the platform is open to all political buyers – regardless of location or party preference. In addition, the Pinpoint Placement platform can alert political media buyers to specific outlets features, rates and requirements to enhance a sale.
If you’d like to know more about how we’re helping move political ads sales from Mt. View, CA to your backyard, send an email. We’d love to chat with you.
