• by Karlene Lukovitz  @KLmarketdaily, November 1, 2022

Political advertisers can maximize their reach by investing between 10% and 20% of their total television budgets in streaming media and the rest in traditional TV, according to the latest analysis from Effectv, Comcast Cable’s ad sales division. 

The recommendation, based on analyzing nearly 20 million impressions spanning 200 political campaigns during the primaries in first-half 2022, differs from Effectv’s previous analyses of general advertisers’ use of streaming versus traditional TV, which concluded that those advertisers should allocate between 20% and 30% to streaming. 

That’s because voters are likely to spend more time with traditional TV, according to the data. 

While Effectv suggests that general advertisers attribute 20%-30% of their total video investment to streaming, the recommendation is slightly lower when reaching likely voters, who, according to Comcast’s aggregated viewership data, are likely to spend more time with traditional TV. 

Linear-only campaigns can still capture much of the target audience, according to the study. 

In the 2022 primaries, 81% of frequent voters were reached through traditional TV only, versus 9% through streaming only, and 10% through TV and streaming combined. 

But the analysis also showed that adding streaming to a TV-centric media plan can exponentially extend reach: 51% of frequent voter households reached by streaming were incremental to traditional TV and would not have been reached by TV alone. 

In addition, streaming impressions were 1.7 times more likely to be seen within “light news viewing” households compared to traditional TV (18% versus 11%). 

“Relying on ‘old standbys’ like local news is not enough anymore,” states Dan Sinagoga, Effectv’s head of political sales. “We’re seeing greater success among advertisers who take a multiscreen approach, using streaming as a strong complement to linear TV.”