Hey publisher! Getting ready for next year’s big political sales? You’re not? What? It’s not a presidential election year? It’s just a bunch of Congressional elections? The big money comes in 2028, right? Nope. 2026 is indeed a bunch of Congressional elections but those elections are taking place in a

Chances are good that – as a local news publisher – you don’t think of yourself as a master gardener. You should. Because the walled garden you’ve been building behind your subscriber paywall is filled with data riches, especially for political ad buyers. Political candidates, advocacy organizations and public affairs

If you’re not in politics, 2024 may seem like it’s a year away. But for folks who make their livings getting people elected and ideas codified into law, the next 12 months are a prep week for the storm ahead. There’s too much still up in the air for anyone

As we’ve built our political ad-buying platform over the past few months Spot-On has noticed that more and more folks seem interested in the whole idea of abandoning the black boxes called part programmatic ad buying in favor of something more direct. From Google on down, more players seem ready

It’s an election year. If you’re reading this, it’s likely you work at or run a local news site. We have some good news. And, well, some bad news, too. Good: It looks as though 2022 will be a barn burner of a year for political ad buying. Digital will

The time has come for news outlets to start separating – really separating – political and advocacy ad sales from brands. This is not a dramatic step. In the analog world, political campaigns enjoy special treatment that brand advertisers don’t. TV stations set political rates for candidate ads. Election-oriented mail

The programmatic ad market is slowly coming in for its close-up, and it looks as though that scrutiny may start to expand some familiar cracks in the facade. Familiar, especially, to publishers worried about exactly what kind of political ads are running on their pages. The University of North Carolina’s

There may be no better indication of the rising cost of programmatic digital advertising than a little missive Google sent out earlier this month to its ad buying customers. In a number of countries that are taxing digital ad placements, the big ad firm will be adding surcharges to cover

Looks like Google’s first attempt to shut down the circus known as “ad tech” was more clown car than Big Top. Pretty much every publisher is confused – with reason. It’s not often that a big company reverses a much-ballyhooed announcement creating a dramatic and irreversible change in its primary

Over the past few months, using some new online tools, editorial outfits across the country have started to parse lots and lots of publicly available data. Here in San Francisco, the Chronicle, has created a new data reporting team. It’s regularly serving up stats, graphics and analysis for COVID vaccine

First ‘context’ now ‘privacy’. It seems the buzzword fest in online ad tech is always going back to the future. Which, as we’ve said before, is good news for local publishers – especially when it comes to reaping political ad dollars. The three big platforms – Facebook, Google and Apple

Silicon Valley has a saying: Live by the platform, die by the platform. Translation: If your business relies on anyone else to exist then your livelihood is subject to the whims of that that provider, which can change at any time. Their business is more important to them than yours.

There’s a story on Politico Pro that should be required reading in every ad sales room in every local news site in every state of the union. The ‘rug has been pulled out’: Campaigns flop amid Facebook,Google Ad Bans That’s right. With Facebook’s much vaunted voter targeting no longer freely

It’s easy to think the political ad buying season is over. But, just like Monty Python’s Polly Parrot it’s only resting. The next year will see a number of mayoral races, no shortage of ‘special’ elections for seats left empty as officeholders joined the Biden administration and a fair amount

You remember contextual targeting don’t you? That’s when you sold an ad placement based on where in your publications it would have the most impact. What’s that? You say you’re still selling ads that way? Well, you’re not really. So-called programmatic advertising has eaten away at the very idea that

A recent survey by Centro, a Chicago and Toronto-based programmatic ad buying firm, says that political ad buyers are worried about a range of issues this political year. The know there are landmines out there, they’re just not sure when they’re going to go off.  To which Spot-On says, “d’uh”. It

It’s beginning to look as though the “wild west” of political ad sales is getting tamed. No six shooters needed, this go-round. Just a lot of frustration – too much to go around – is making ad platforms aware of something news outlets know in their souls: paid political speech

More than any year since Spot-On started selling ads, this one has been one of constant change for political advertisers. That’s not just the overall chaotic climate; it’s the new attention being paid to the sloppiness that sadly characterizes the ad tech business by publishers and attention to privacy concerns by

Here’s a little good news: Political and advocacy efforts want to advertise in this crisis-fueled climate. And publishers should be waiting for them. A few trends, accelerated by the Covid-19 crisis, might make it easier. The lingering and slow death of the 3rd party cookie, brought on by fatigue, frustration

Former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuael is credited with a sound observation that should resonate deeply with news outlets this year: “Never let a crisis go to waste. Start planning for the future.“ There’s no getting around it, the news business is in the most dramatic crisis it’s seen. But there may

We’re only a few days into the 2020 Election Year, but it’s clear changes in the political side of the programmatic ad market will bode well for established news outlets over the next 10 months. Publishers have always had an advantage when it comes to political. That’s been hard to

Changes in election and privacy laws aren’t the only things that can help increase direct buy digital sales this year. The folks who make web browsers have stepped in with changes in how ad trackers can follow consumers – which can only help publishers. These and other suggested changes are going

Targeting Alert: One of the key components of online advertising – tracking the behavior of Internet users – is coming under increasing fire. This is good news for publishers across the board but it could be even better news for publishers interested in political ad dollars – if they prepare.

It took more than two years, several Congressional hearings, the levying of a multi-billion dollar fine, countless PR missteps and Lord only knows how much Menlo Park navel gazing but Facebook has finally gotten out of the political ads business. In true Facebook style of course, they aren’t saying they’re

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

It may have been overlooked in the lead-up to the 2018 election, but once again Borrell Associates is saying that the bulk of political ad spending occurred on social and programmatic exchanges. “This year, display will make up almost two-fifths of all U.S. digital political ad spending. More than 60