<div class="wp-block-group"> Have you heard? It’s an election year! With that grand American tradition comes a lengthy list of topics to avoid in mixed company, sportswear precision-engineered to anger 50% of the population, and a tsunami of political ads that can become obstacles to getting your own content on the air!   <h2 class="wp-block-heading">The Competition Heats Up</h2>   Election season “officially” begins with the Democratic National Convention (DNC) August 19–22 and runs through election day, November 5. During that time, political candidates and the organizations supporting them get first dibs on advertising time at the lowest unit rate (LUR), bumping non-political spots to less desirable time slots.   Things get particularly competitive for connected TV (CTV) during this period. All large CTV reservation buys are expected to start running immediately after the DNC in late August. Whether this will result in an inventory shortage depends largely on geography—swing states, for example, are going to be particularly overloaded, while our western MA neighbors will be less directly impacted.   Traditional election-year trends see political campaigns spending around 65%–70% of their overall budgets between September 1 and Election Day, but this year all signs point to that spend increasing to over 90% of total budget. That will not leave a whole lot of room for non-political ads to find prime real estate in competitive markets!   Another factor to consider is whether any issues and ballot questions are likely to result in competitive ad spend by organizations in support or against. The MA ballot questions this November are:   Question 1: State Auditor’s Authority to Audit the Legislature   Question 2: Elimination of MCAS as High School Graduation Requirement   Question 3: Unionization for Transportation Network Drivers   Question 4: Limited Legalization and Regulation of Certain Natural Psychedelic Substances   Question 5: Minimum Wage for Tipped Workers   <h2 class="wp-block-heading">Getting Ahead of the Swarm</h2>   So, what’s the best game plan for advertising in an election year? With all these considerations in mind, the smart move is to book your ad campaigns as soon as possible before the political window opens—the first ads booked are the last ones bumped.   While spots may still be preempted or moved to make room for political advertisers, getting your buys done now will minimize impact and allow for strategic pivots as the need arises. Local and cable news will typically be less impacted versus CTV, so it’s the right time to move resources to those platforms and maximize exposure to regional audiences.   <a href="https://marketmentors.com/expertise/media-buying/">This is far from our first rodeo</a>. We’ve been in the media buying game for more than 20 years. If you’re looking for assistance in strategizing for maximum TV and CTV exposure through the election season, we’re here to help. <a href="https://marketmentors.com/contact-us/">Reach out to us</a> today and we can get right to work on your behalf.   </div>

Getting Ahead of the Swarm: Advertising in an Election Year

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