5 Takeaways for the Last Weekend of Political Ads

At the same time, he’s seen evidence suggesting that the Trump campaign’s linear-first strategy is also finding some purchase with Latino and African American voters, particularly young men. Drawing on his own experience in Spanish-language media—Norman previously had a seven-year stint at Univision—he says that young voters of color grew up watching broadcast and cable television with their parents and grandparents. “It wouldn’t surprise me if those are the reasons why the campaign is leaning into linear more so than you’d expect in 2024,” he notes.

But Norman also expects that to change when the 2028 presidential election rolls around—and possibly as early as the 2026 mid-terms. “The share of TV viewing will continue to be going in the direction of streaming and ad-supported streaming,” he explains, pointing to how broadcast and cable mainstays like sports programming are steadily leaving linear outlets for streaming platforms. “I have to think that by 2028, some of the old guard will accept where the numbers are with viewers and with the voters.”

3. Targeting tactics are shifting

With early voting underway in many states, Norman has noticed that LG’s clients are shifting their targeting strategies with the remaining batches of political ads. “Campaigns targeting likely Republican voters are now targeting likely voters in order to pick up independents or Democrats,” he says. “The preferred outcome for all campaigns is to win, but some are also looking to win with certain voters or in certain regions.”

Norman says that some clients are also taking advantage of the suppression capabilities offered by CTV technology to re-direct ads to those voters they most want to reach. “If someone has already voted or seen the same ads on linear, they’re thinking, ‘Let’s not waste impressions on those voters,’” he explains.

4. Ads are putting issues over party

It’s widely expected that Harris and Trump will end the race in a near-photo finish, with potentially only a few thousand votes ushering the victor to the Oval Office. The same holds true for many of the down-ballot races, which will likely be decided on razor-thin margins.

With that in mind, Norman says that the most recent wave of ads on both sides of the aisle has largely been trying to convince those few thousand voters to pull the lever based on the issues rather than for a specific political party.

“Down-ballot, you’re seeing candidates from the left talking about border security, and on the right, they’re talking about women’s freedoms,” he observes. “A lot of the ads that I’m seeing aren’t even mentioning which party the candidates are with!”

5. Trust matters

Throughout this election cycle, legacy media has seen its position as the go-to forum for presidential candidates usurped by social media and podcasters like Joe Rogan and Alex Cooper. But in the ad world, at least, Norman says that working with trusted partners like LG and other established streaming platforms—as opposed to taking a chance on emerging mediums—still matters the most to his clients.

“What I’m hearing from clients is that there’s no time to be trying new platforms or moving money to untested platforms,” he says. That includes social media destinations like X, formerly Twitter, which had set out to earn $100 million from political advertising this year but reportedly only earned a fraction of that, according to The Financial Times.