The escalating costs of digital advertising during election cycles are prompting publishers to seek greater control and efficiency, with sell-side curation emerging as a pivotal strategy. In a move designed to reshape the political advertising landscape, supply-side platform OpenX, in collaboration with data provider Givsly, has introduced a new curation and targeting solution. This innovative offering aims to empower political campaigns to reach voters based on shared values rather than solely relying on traditional party affiliation data, facilitating engagement across premium Connected TV (CTV) and digital publisher platforms that permit political advertisements.
The strategic partnership, announced on Monday, brings together OpenX’s extensive publisher network with Givsly’s unique audience segmentation capabilities, derived from data signals of over 500 non-profit organizations. This approach allows for the creation of voter profiles centered around deeply held values, such as environmental advocacy or women’s empowerment. OpenX then leverages its robust identity graph to match these value-based segments, enabling political advertisers to connect with audiences across a curated selection of publishers. Initial launch partners for this groundbreaking initiative include esteemed outlets like Newsweek, alongside prominent CTV platforms such as Plex, Xumo, and Scripps, signaling a significant shift in how political campaigns can engage with potential voters.
The Evolving Landscape of Political Ad Spend
This significant development arrives amidst a period of unprecedented political advertising expenditure. Industry projections highlight the immense financial stakes involved, with AdImpact forecasting a staggering $10.8 billion in political ad spend for the current year. This figure represents a substantial 20% increase compared to the 2022 midterm elections and is remarkably close to the $11.1 billion invested in the 2024 presidential race. The sheer volume of this investment underscores the critical need for publishers to exert tighter control over pricing, ensure brand safety, and maximize their revenue streams. Simultaneously, political advertisers are increasingly seeking ways to optimize their spending, avoid undesirable ad placements, and identify untapped segments of the electorate, particularly swing voters.
The traditional programmatic marketplace for political advertising has often been characterized by its transactional and somewhat chaotic nature. This environment, often described as a "spray and pray" approach, frequently led to inefficiencies and a lack of direct control for both advertisers and publishers. The introduction of curated deals aims to inject a much-needed element of predictability and precision into this complex ecosystem.
Predictability and Control: The Power of Curated Deals
Danielle Varvaro, Chief Revenue Officer at Newsweek, emphasized the transformative potential of curated deal structures. "Curated deal structures introduce predictability into what’s historically been a chaotic ‘spray and pray’ programmatic political advertising marketplace," Varvaro stated. "It also helps reduce duplication in the supply path and supports more stable pricing." This enhanced predictability allows publishers to move beyond the volatile, short-term revenue spikes often associated with election seasons and focus instead on cultivating "sustainable yield."
Furthermore, sell-side curation empowers publishers with greater agency over their participation in the political ad market. "Curation on the sell side also gives publishers greater control over how they participate in the political ad market, so we can access the incremental spend while maintaining our governance, our compliance, and our brand integrity," Varvaro explained. This means publishers can strategically engage with political advertisers, ensuring that their platforms align with their editorial standards and brand values, while still capitalizing on the significant revenue opportunities presented by election campaigns.
How the Technology Works: Bridging Values and Audiences
The mechanics behind this innovative solution involve a sophisticated interplay of data and technology. Givsly aggregates data signals from a vast network of over 500 non-profit organizations, enabling the creation of granular audience segments based on shared values. These value-driven profiles offer a more nuanced understanding of voter motivations than traditional demographic or party affiliation data.
OpenX then utilizes its proprietary identity graph to match these Givsly-defined audiences with users across its extensive network of publisher clients. This matching process identifies potential voters whose expressed interests and affiliations align with specific campaign messages. The resulting audience segments are then packaged into "deal IDs," which can be readily activated for both direct and programmatic advertising buys.
Amanda Forrester, SVP of Marketing and Communications at OpenX, elaborated on the layered approach to targeting. "Givsly’s data is one enrichment layer," Forrester noted. "Buyers can also target specific geos and ZIP codes and zero in on particular voting districts." While acknowledging that combining Givsly’s value-based data with other third-party audience segments might potentially limit available inventory, she highlighted the distinct advantage of this approach. "The addition of the Givsly data lets political campaigns reach voters whose values align with their candidate, even without access to party affiliation data. And they can apply that values-based data to find new potential voters even in ZIP codes where the campaign already has extensive data on party affiliation. Which helps activate new voters rather than reinforce existing bases."
Beyond audience targeting, the platform offers advanced reporting capabilities. Advertisers receive localized reach and frequency data at the county, DMA, and ZIP code levels, enabling granular campaign optimization. Furthermore, campaigns can be tailored to drive specific outcomes, such as increasing clicks to a campaign website or encouraging sign-ups for voter registration drives.
A Demand for Precision in Political Programmatic
The development of this solution is underpinned by two significant industry shifts that have emboldened publishers to play a more active role in programmatic dealmaking. The first is the ascendance of "sell-side curation" over the past few years. This trend has coincided with a growing industry-wide emphasis on "audience precision over volume."
Varvaro from Newsweek observes that political advertisers are no exception to this trend. "They’re just as concerned with driving measurable outcomes as any brand, and that’s come out in many of the negotiations for midterm ad buys that have taken place so far this year," she stated. The era of purely transactional political advertising, particularly within the highly competitive programmatic channels during peak seasons, appears to be evolving. "Historically, political buying could be highly transactional, particularly within the programmatic channels during peak seasons, when buyers are competing aggressively for limited supply," Varvaro recalled. "But this cycle, political advertisers are much more focused on curated access to that supply path, and also transparency and compliance."
For Newsweek, participating in OpenX’s curated political packages represents a strategic move to safeguard its supply chain during periods of heightened demand. It also serves to reinforce its brand identity as a "premium, centrist news publisher." However, the publication maintains a discerning approach to ad placement. While Newsweek is amenable to running political ads across its digital properties, it will not be placing political advertisements on CTV inventory managed through Adprime, a healthcare-focused Demand-Side Platform (DSP) acquired by Newsweek in the previous year. This decision reflects the specific nature of its partnership with OpenX, which focuses on different inventory sources.
Re-engaging Publishers with Political Advertising
Despite the innovations and the significant financial incentives, not all media companies are uniformly enthusiastic about accepting political advertising. Persistent concerns regarding political polarization and brand safety continue to influence publisher decisions. Similarly, political buyers often have specific preferences regarding the publishers they choose to support. OpenX has proactively addressed these hesitations by incorporating robust controls into its platform, designed to foster confidence on both sides of the supply chain.
Through the OpenXSelect curation platform, advertisers are empowered to establish custom brand standards and create curated "allow lists" of publishers. A key advantage of this sell-side curation approach is that buyers can activate these pre-defined lists across any DSP without the need for repeated configuration for each individual platform.
Conversely, publishers receive advertiser approval lists, ensuring that curated packages do not inadvertently compete with or diminish the value of their existing direct deals. Publishers also retain the ability to review ad creative, ensuring alignment with their editorial values and brand integrity. The stringency of this creative review process is fully customizable, allowing publishers to choose between rigorous vetting of every political ad or a more streamlined approach that whitelists trusted advertisers.
OpenX emphasizes that participation in political advertising is entirely opt-in. Currently, more than half of its publisher network has enabled political advertising capabilities. Even within this framework, publishers retain the flexibility to block political ads from specific site subsections or domains. This ensures that political campaigns can only bid on inventory that has been explicitly approved by the publisher, providing an additional layer of control and brand protection.
The overarching goal of these implemented controls is to encourage publishers who may have withdrawn from political advertising due to concerns about brand alignment, data governance, and privacy compliance to reconsider their stance. "If you can deliver a solution that has strong guardrails and protections, and that keeps content aligned with other quality publishers, then people are more comfortable providing access," Forrester concluded. This carefully managed approach aims to balance the commercial opportunities of political advertising with the imperative of maintaining publisher integrity and audience trust.
Update 2/25/26: This article was updated to clarify how OpenX matches Givsly’s values-based data to its identity graph.
