The increasingly complex and often opaque world of digital advertising, particularly during high-stakes election cycles, is poised for a significant shift. Publishers frequently find themselves losing billions in potential revenue to programmatic intermediaries, a trend that sell-side curation is now aiming to disrupt. In a move designed to reclaim value and offer greater control, supply-side platform OpenX, in collaboration with data provider Givsly, has introduced a novel curation and targeting solution specifically tailored for political campaigns. This innovative tool eschews traditional party affiliation metrics, instead enabling political advertisers to connect with voters based on their deeply held values, targeting them across premium Connected TV (CTV) and digital publisher inventory that permits political advertising.
The launch of this initiative coincides with an unprecedented surge in political ad spending. Industry projections from AdImpact highlight a staggering $10.8 billion slated for political advertising in the current year, representing a substantial 20% increase compared to the 2022 midterm elections and narrowly trailing the $11.1 billion expenditure recorded during the 2024 presidential race. This immense financial flow underscores the critical need for publishers to exert greater influence over pricing dynamics and ensure robust brand safety. Curated deals offer a dual benefit: they empower political advertisers to circumvent undesirable ad placements and, crucially, to identify and engage previously untapped segments of potential swing voters.
The Genesis of a New Political Advertising Paradigm
The traditional programmatic political advertising landscape has often been characterized by a "spray and pray" methodology, leading to inefficiencies and a lack of predictability. This environment, while lucrative for some intermediaries, has historically shortchanged publishers. The introduction of curated deal structures by OpenX and Givsly aims to inject a much-needed element of order and strategic precision into this often chaotic marketplace.
Danielle Varvaro, Chief Revenue Officer at Newsweek, a launch partner for the new solution, articulated the significance of this shift. "Curated deal structures introduce predictability into what’s historically been a chaotic ‘spray and pray’ programmatic political advertising marketplace," Varvaro stated. She further elaborated on the benefits, noting that the approach "helps reduce duplication in the supply path and supports more stable pricing." This strategic alignment allows publishers to move beyond the short-term revenue spikes often associated with election seasons and instead focus on cultivating "sustainable yield." Moreover, sell-side curation grants publishers enhanced autonomy over their participation in the political ad market, enabling them to "access the incremental spend while maintaining our governance, our compliance and our brand integrity."
The partnership between OpenX and Givsly represents a sophisticated fusion of data and technology. Givsly leverages data signals derived from an extensive network of over 500 non-profit organizations to construct audience segments centered around shared values. These values can range from crucial social issues like women’s empowerment to pressing environmental concerns such as sustainability. OpenX then ingeniously matches these value-based signals against its comprehensive identity graph. This sophisticated matching process identifies Givsly’s meticulously defined audiences across its network of publisher clients. The resulting audience segments are then packaged into distinct deal IDs, making them readily accessible for both direct and programmatic advertising buys.
Amanda Forrester, SVP of Marketing and Communications at OpenX, emphasized the layered approach to targeting enabled by this solution. "Givsly’s data is one enrichment layer," Forrester explained. She added that buyers can further refine their targeting by incorporating specific geographic data, including ZIP codes, and can even pinpoint particular voting districts. However, she cautioned that the indiscriminate combination of values-based data with third-party audiences from various vendors could potentially lead to a constrained supply. Despite this, the integration of Givsly’s unique data empowers political campaigns to connect with voters whose values resonate with their candidate’s platform, even in the absence of readily available party affiliation data. This capability extends to identifying new potential voters within ZIP codes where a campaign might already possess extensive party affiliation data, thereby facilitating the activation of new voter segments rather than merely reinforcing existing bases.
Beyond sophisticated audience targeting, the solution also provides advertisers with granular, localized reporting on reach and frequency at the county, Designated Market Area (DMA), and ZIP code levels. This detailed reporting allows for precise campaign optimization toward measurable outcomes, such as driving traffic to campaign websites or voter registration pages.
A Shift Towards Precision and Publisher Empowerment
This innovative approach is built upon two fundamental industry transformations that have significantly empowered publishers to engage more actively in programmatic deal-making. The first is the ascendance of sell-side curation over the past few years. This trend has been closely followed by a pronounced industry-wide emphasis on audience precision, a departure from the previous focus on sheer volume.
Political advertisers, much like their counterparts in other sectors, are increasingly driven by the imperative to achieve measurable outcomes. This demand for accountability has become a prominent feature in negotiations for midterm ad buys throughout the year. Varvaro observed, "Historically, political buying could be highly transactional, particularly within the programmatic channels during peak seasons, when buyers are competing aggressively for limited supply." However, she noted a palpable shift in the current cycle: "political advertisers are much more focused on curated access to that supply path, and also transparency and compliance."
For publishers like Newsweek, participation in OpenX’s curated political packages serves as a strategic safeguard for their supply chain during periods of intense demand. It also serves to reinforce their brand positioning as a premium, centrist news organization. While Newsweek is open to running political advertisements across its diverse portfolio of websites and verticals, it has made a strategic decision not to place political ads on CTV inventory managed through Adprime, its healthcare-focused demand-side platform acquired in June of the previous year. This specific inventory is not part of its current partnership with OpenX, highlighting the controlled nature of publisher participation.
Addressing Publisher Hesitation and Ensuring Brand Integrity
Despite the potential revenue opportunities, a segment of media companies remains hesitant to engage with political advertising due to ongoing societal polarization and persistent concerns about brand safety. Political buyers, in turn, exhibit their own preferences regarding the publishers they choose to support. OpenX has proactively addressed these dual hesitations by embedding robust controls within its system.
Through the OpenX Select curation platform, buyers are empowered to establish custom brand standards and curate allow lists of preferred publishers. A key advantage of this sell-side curation approach is that buyers can deploy these meticulously crafted lists across any demand-side platform (DSP) without the need for repeated reconfiguration for each individual platform.
Simultaneously, publishers are furnished with advertiser approval lists, ensuring that curated packages do not inadvertently cannibalize existing direct deals. Furthermore, publishers retain the prerogative to review ad creative, verifying its alignment with their organizational values. The stringency of this creative review process is entirely at the publisher’s discretion. Some opt for a comprehensive vetting of every political advertisement, while others prefer to pre-approve trusted advertisers, thereby streamlining the review process.
OpenX emphasizes that participation in its political advertising offerings is strictly opt-in. Currently, over half of its publisher partners have enabled political advertising capabilities. Nevertheless, participating publishers retain the flexibility to block political ads from appearing on specific site subsections or domains. Political campaigns, in turn, are restricted to bidding on inventory that has received explicit publisher approval.
The overarching objective of these comprehensive controls is to encourage publishers who may have previously withdrawn from political advertising due to concerns about brand alignment, data governance, and privacy compliance to reconsider their stance. Forrester articulated this vision: "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."
The Broader Implications for the Digital Advertising Ecosystem
The introduction of OpenX and Givsly’s curated political advertising solution signals a broader trend towards greater transparency, control, and value realization within the digital ad ecosystem. As political ad spending continues its upward trajectory, publishers are increasingly recognizing the power of sell-side curation to reclaim a larger share of this lucrative market. By moving beyond the limitations of traditional programmatic exchanges and embracing value-based targeting, campaigns can engage voters more effectively, while publishers can ensure brand safety and sustainable revenue streams.
This development is particularly significant in an era where consumer privacy is paramount and the lines between content and advertising are constantly being scrutinized. The ability to target based on shared values, rather than solely on demographic or party affiliation data, offers a more nuanced and potentially more impactful approach to political communication. It allows campaigns to connect with audiences on a deeper, more personal level, fostering engagement and encouraging action.
For the digital advertising industry as a whole, this initiative highlights the evolving role of supply-side platforms. No longer passive conduits for ad inventory, they are becoming strategic partners, offering sophisticated tools and data-driven solutions that benefit both publishers and advertisers. The success of this model could pave the way for similar innovations in other advertising verticals, further democratizing access to valuable audience segments and fostering a more equitable and efficient digital advertising marketplace. As the political landscape continues to evolve, so too will the strategies employed to reach voters, and solutions like OpenX’s curated offering are at the forefront of this critical transformation.
Update 2/25/26: This article was updated to clarify how OpenX matches Givsly’s values-based data to its identity graph.
