\n\tThinking differently about how to run your campaigns? It could be time to change up your digital ad game as part of that process. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\tTwo online publishing trends are coming together in a way that should encourage political campaigns to think differently about the tried-and-true method of reaching voters with digital technology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\tFirst, the lingering and slow death of the 3rd<\/sup> party cookie<\/a>, brought on by fatigue, frustration<\/a>and fraud<\/a>, along with the enactment or threat of enactment of online privacy protection laws means the most popular means of buying political ads, known as \u201cprogrammatic advertising,\u201d is losing its shiny gloss.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n \n\tThat gloss included the ability to use redacted voter information in an attempt \u2013 in Spot-On\u2019s eyes, an overstated one \u2013 to target specific voters. With the death of the 3rd<\/sup> party cookie, all<\/u><\/em>targeting loses its effectiveness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \n\tAt the same time, attention to local news sites, spurred on by the Covid-19 Pandemic \u2013 has increased dramatically. McClatchy, which has outlets from California to Miami \u2013 says its online readership is up by more than 60%<\/a>. They\u2019re not alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \n\tThings were headed this way even before the pandemic. In late February, Pew Research Center found that 75% of the folks they surveyed<\/a> \u2013 from both political parties – did not believe Facebook or Google would be able to prevent election interference on their platforms. Another survey<\/a> found that readers were more trusting of the \u2018open web\u2019, not platforms, meaning they trust ads on news and information sites, not the platforms\u2019 walled gardens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \n\tWhen it comes to TV, well, there\u2019s more acceleration of existing trends that change campaign outreach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \n\tCable and satellite are seeing a slowdown in growth. One analyst told Variety:<\/a> \u201cThere are now as many non-subscribing households (46M) as there were pay TV subscribers in 1988.\u201d In other words, the number of folks using online to access information and entertainment<\/a> is now the size of the early days of the cable TV business \u2013 when political advertisers began to notice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \n\tThe pandemic is creating problems for political campaigns that won\u2019t disappear with any fall-off in illnesses. <\/p>\n\n\n\n