The perennial challenge of publishers losing billions in digital advertising revenue to programmatic middlemen during election seasons may see a significant shift with the advent of sophisticated sell-side curation solutions. This evolving landscape is further underscored by the launch of a novel curation and targeting platform by supply-side platform OpenX, developed in partnership with data provider Givsly. This innovative tool is specifically engineered for political campaigns, offering a departure from traditional party affiliation data. Instead, it empowers political advertisers to connect with voters based on their deeply held values, targeting audiences across premium Connected TV (CTV) and digital publishing environments that permit political advertising.
The strategic alliance has already secured notable launch partners, including established media entities like Newsweek and prominent CTV platforms such as Plex, Xumo, and Scripps. This concerted push towards more direct, curated buying strategies arrives precisely as the United States gears up for another election cycle projected to witness substantial ad expenditure.
Projected Surge in Political Ad Spend
Industry forecasts paint a vivid picture of the financial stakes involved in the upcoming electoral contests. AdImpact, a leading analytics firm, projects that political ad spending for the current year will reach an impressive $10.8 billion. This figure represents a substantial 20% increase compared to the 2022 midterm elections and is narrowly below the $11.1 billion recorded during the 2024 presidential race, highlighting the escalating investment in political advertising.
The sheer volume of this capital infusion naturally amplifies the desire among publishers for greater control over pricing mechanisms and the assurance of brand safety. Curated deals, by their very nature, offer a compelling solution by enabling political advertisers to circumvent undesirable ad placements and, crucially, to access and engage previously untapped segments of potential swing voters.
Introducing Predictability to Political Programmatic Advertising
The introduction of curated deal structures is poised to inject a much-needed element of predictability into what has historically been characterized as a volatile and often chaotic programmatic political advertising marketplace. Danielle Varvaro, Chief Revenue Officer at Newsweek, articulated this sentiment, noting that these curated approaches move away from a "spray and pray" methodology. She further elaborated that this strategy “helps reduce duplication in the supply path and supports more stable pricing.”
This enhanced control, according to Varvaro, allows publishers to transcend the pursuit of mere "short-term spikes" during the intense election season. Instead, it facilitates a strategic focus on achieving "sustainable yield." By engaging in sell-side curation, publishers gain a more robust command over their participation in the political ad market. This enables them to "access the incremental spend while maintaining our governance, our compliance, and our brand integrity," Varvaro explained.
Mechanism of the New Curation Tool
The operational framework of this innovative solution involves a sophisticated interplay between data providers and technology platforms. Givsly leverages data signals derived from an extensive network of over 500 nonprofit organizations to construct audience segments based on shared values. These values can encompass a wide spectrum, ranging from specific causes like women’s empowerment to broader environmental sustainability initiatives. OpenX then ingeniously maps these value-based signals against its comprehensive identity graph. This process identifies Givsly’s target audiences across its network of publisher clients. The resulting audience segments are then meticulously packaged into distinct deal IDs, which can be readily activated through both direct and programmatic advertising buys.
Amanda Forrester, SVP of Marketing and Communications at OpenX, highlighted that Givsly’s data serves as a foundational enrichment layer. She further explained that buyers possess the flexibility to incorporate additional targeting parameters, such as specific geographic locations and ZIP codes, and can even drill down to particular voting districts. However, Forrester cautioned that the indiscriminate combination of values-based data with third-party audiences from other vendors could potentially lead to a constraint in available inventory.
Despite this potential limitation, the integration of Givsly’s data offers political campaigns a powerful new avenue to reach voters whose values resonate with their candidate’s platform, even in the absence of direct party affiliation data. This capability is particularly valuable for identifying and engaging new potential voters in ZIP codes where a campaign might already possess extensive party affiliation data. The strategic implication here is the activation of new voter blocs rather than merely reinforcing existing supporter bases.
Furthermore, advertisers benefit from localized reporting capabilities, providing granular reach and frequency data at the county, Designated Market Area (DMA), and ZIP code levels. This enables them to meticulously optimize their campaigns toward specific, measurable outcomes, such as driving traffic to campaign websites or voter registration pages.
The Growing Demand for Precision in Political Advertising
This sophisticated solution is underpinned by two significant industry shifts that have collectively empowered publishers to assume a more proactive role in programmatic dealmaking. The first is the ascendance of sell-side curation over the past few years. This trend has coincided with a second, equally impactful development: a heightened emphasis on audience precision over sheer volume.
Varvaro emphasized that political advertisers are not immune to this industry-wide evolution; they exhibit the same commitment to achieving measurable outcomes as any other brand. This demand for demonstrable results has become a prominent theme in negotiations for midterm ad buys that have already commenced this year.
"Historically, political buying could be highly transactional, particularly within the programmatic channels during peak seasons, when buyers are competing aggressively for limited supply," Varvaro stated. In contrast, she observed, this current electoral cycle sees political advertisers exhibiting a "much more focused approach on curated access to that supply path, and also transparency and compliance."
For Newsweek, participation in OpenX’s curated political packages represents a strategic move to safeguard its supply chain during a period of heightened demand. Simultaneously, it serves to bolster its established reputation as a premium, centrist news publisher. However, while Newsweek is amenable to running political ads across its diverse array of websites and verticals, it has opted not to place political advertisements on CTV inventory managed through Adprime, a healthcare-focused Demand-Side Platform (DSP) acquired by the company last June. This specific supply is not encompassed within its current partnership with OpenX.
Encouraging Publisher Re-engagement with Political Advertising
Despite these advancements, not all media companies are uniformly enthusiastic about accepting political advertising. The prevailing climate of intense political polarization and persistent brand safety concerns continues to create hesitancy. Political buyers, in turn, have their own discerning preferences regarding which publishers they choose to support. OpenX has proactively integrated robust controls into its system to address these apprehensions from both sides of the supply chain.
Through the OpenXSelect curation platform, advertisers are empowered to establish custom brand standards and curate "allow lists" of preferred publishers. A significant advantage of this sell-side curation approach is that buyers can activate these meticulously crafted lists across any DSP without the need for repeated reconfiguration for each individual platform.
Publishers, conversely, are provided with advertiser approval lists, ensuring that the curated packages do not inadvertently undermine existing deals. They also retain the prerogative to review ad creative to ascertain its alignment with their established values and can dictate the stringency of this review process. This flexibility allows some publishers to meticulously vet every political advertisement, while others opt for a more streamlined approach, whitelisting trusted advertisers and bypassing individual ad reviews.
OpenX underscores that participation in these curated packages is entirely opt-in. Currently, more than half of its publisher network has activated the functionality for political advertising. Even within this framework, participating publishers retain the ability to restrict political ads from appearing on specific site subsections or domains. Political campaigns, therefore, can only bid on inventory that has been explicitly approved by the publisher, offering a significant layer of control and brand protection.
The overarching objective of these implemented controls, according to OpenX, 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.
"If you can deliver a solution that has strong guardrails and protections, and that keeps content aligned with other quality publishers," Forrester stated, "then people are more comfortable providing access." This sentiment suggests a pathway toward re-establishing trust and facilitating broader participation in the political advertising ecosystem.
Broader Implications and Future Outlook
The introduction of OpenX and Givsly’s collaborative solution represents a pivotal moment in the evolution of digital political advertising. By shifting the focus from broad, often imprecise targeting to value-based segmentation, campaigns can now engage with voters on a more personal and resonant level. This not only promises to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of ad spend but also offers publishers a more controlled and lucrative path to participating in this lucrative advertising sector.
The emphasis on transparency and brand safety is particularly crucial in the current polarized media environment. By providing publishers with granular control over ad placements and creative content, tools like OpenXSelect can mitigate the risks associated with controversial political messaging. This can, in turn, encourage a wider array of premium publishers to open their platforms to political advertising, thereby diversifying the inventory available to campaigns and potentially reducing the reliance on less scrupulous ad networks.
The success of this initiative will likely hinge on its ability to demonstrate tangible results for both advertisers and publishers. As election cycles continue to demand increasingly sophisticated targeting and measurable outcomes, solutions that offer precision, control, and transparency are poised to become the new standard. The current trajectory suggests that the era of purely transactional, high-volume programmatic political advertising may be giving way to a more curated, value-driven approach, benefiting all stakeholders in the digital advertising ecosystem.
