The digital advertising landscape, particularly during election cycles, has long been characterized by significant revenue leakage to programmatic intermediaries. Publishers often find themselves on the losing end of billions in digital ad dollars, a trend that supply-side platform OpenX aims to disrupt with its new sell-side curation and targeting solution. Developed in collaboration with data provider Givsly, this innovative tool is designed to empower political campaigns by enabling them to reach voters based on shared values, rather than solely relying on traditional party affiliation data. This strategic shift promises to unlock new avenues for advertisers within premium Connected TV (CTV) and digital publishing environments that permit political advertisements.
A New Paradigm for Political Ad Spend
The launch of this targeted solution arrives at a pivotal moment, coinciding with an election cycle projected to see unprecedented levels of political ad spending. Industry projections from AdImpact indicate a staggering $10.8 billion in political ad expenditure for the current year. This figure represents a significant 20% surge compared to the 2022 midterm elections and nearly mirrors the $11.1 billion invested during the 2024 presidential race. Such substantial financial flows underscore the immense importance of efficient and effective advertising strategies for political entities.
The core innovation lies in its departure from conventional targeting methods. Instead of focusing on established political affiliations, the OpenX and Givsly platform leverages data signals derived from over 500 non-profit organizations. These signals are used to construct audience segments around common values, encompassing a wide spectrum of interests such as women’s empowerment, environmental sustainability, and other social causes. OpenX then utilizes its proprietary identity graph to precisely match these Givsly-identified audiences across its network of participating publisher clients. The resulting audience segments are meticulously packaged into deal IDs, making them readily accessible for activation through both direct and programmatic media buys.
Addressing Publisher Concerns and Enhancing Advertiser Precision
For publishers, this new approach offers a compelling pathway to reclaim greater control over their ad inventory and pricing. Danielle Varvaro, Chief Revenue Officer at Newsweek, a launch partner for the initiative, highlighted the transformative potential of curated deals. She explained that these structures introduce a much-needed element of predictability into what has historically been a volatile and often chaotic programmatic political advertising marketplace, often characterized by a "spray and pray" mentality.
"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 stability allows publishers to move beyond the allure of short-term revenue spikes during election seasons and instead focus on cultivating "sustainable yield." Varvaro further emphasized that sell-side curation grants publishers greater agency in how they engage with the political ad market, enabling them to "access the incremental spend while maintaining our governance, our compliance and our brand integrity."
Beyond values-based targeting, the solution offers advertisers granular control over their campaigns. Buyers can layer additional targeting parameters, including specific geographic regions, ZIP codes, and even individual voting districts. Amanda Forrester, SVP of Marketing and Communications at OpenX, noted that while combining Givsly’s values-based data with third-party audiences from other vendors might potentially constrain supply, the ability to precisely target voters whose values align with a candidate’s platform is a significant advantage. This is particularly impactful in ZIP codes where campaigns may already possess extensive party affiliation data, offering an opportunity to activate new voters rather than merely reinforcing existing bases.
Furthermore, advertisers gain access to localized reporting on reach and frequency at granular levels—county, Designated Market Area (DMA), and ZIP code. This empowers them to optimize campaigns towards specific, measurable outcomes, such as driving traffic to campaign websites or voter registration pages.
The Rise of Sell-Side Curation and Audience Precision
The development of this values-based political advertising solution is deeply rooted in two significant industry shifts that have empowered publishers in programmatic dealmaking. Firstly, the ascendance of sell-side curation over the past few years has shifted power dynamics, allowing publishers to proactively shape their ad offerings. Secondly, there has been a marked industry-wide pivot towards prioritizing audience precision over sheer volume.
Political advertisers are not immune to this trend; they, like any other brand, are increasingly focused on achieving measurable outcomes. This has become evident in numerous negotiations for midterm ad buys conducted thus far this year. Varvaro observed that "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 that in the current 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 a period of intense demand. It also serves to reinforce its standing as a premium, centrist news publisher. However, the publication maintains a selective approach. While it is open to running political ads across its digital properties, it will not be placing political advertisements on CTV inventory managed through Adprime, its healthcare-focused demand-side platform acquired in June 2025. This specific inventory is not part of its current partnership with OpenX.
Building Trust and Safeguarding Brand Integrity
Despite the potential of this new approach, the landscape of political advertising remains complex, with ongoing polarization and brand safety concerns leading some media companies to remain hesitant about accepting political ads. Similarly, political buyers often exhibit distinct preferences regarding the publishers they choose to support. OpenX has proactively integrated robust controls within its platform to address these hesitations on both sides of the supply chain.
Through the OpenXSelect curation platform, buyers are afforded the ability to define custom brand standards and establish allow lists of preferred publishers. A key advantage of this sell-side curation is that buyers can activate these pre-defined lists across any demand-side platform (DSP) without the need for repeated reconfiguration for each individual platform.
Conversely, publishers receive advertiser approval lists, ensuring that curated packages do not inadvertently compete with or cannibalize existing direct deals. They also retain the right to review ad creative, ensuring alignment with their editorial values and brand integrity. The stringency of this creative review process is entirely at the publisher’s discretion; some opt to vet every political ad, while others prefer to whitelist trusted advertisers and streamline the review process.
OpenX emphasizes that participation in political advertising is entirely opt-in, and reports that more than half of its publisher partners have already enabled political advertising. Even within this framework, publishers retain the ability to block political ads from appearing on specific site subsections or domains. Political campaigns, in turn, can only bid on inventory that has been explicitly approved by the publisher.
The overarching goal 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.
"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 underscores the industry’s growing recognition that with the right safeguards and a focus on shared values, political advertising can be integrated more responsibly and effectively into the digital ecosystem.
Broader Implications for the Digital Advertising Ecosystem
The introduction of values-based targeting in political advertising carries significant implications beyond the immediate election cycle. It signals a broader trend towards more nuanced and purpose-driven advertising strategies across the digital spectrum. By demonstrating the viability of reaching audiences based on their deeply held beliefs, this initiative could pave the way for similar approaches in other advertising verticals, such as social impact campaigns, cause-related marketing, and even brand advertising seeking to connect with consumers on an emotional and ethical level.
The emphasis on publisher control and transparency also addresses long-standing criticisms of the programmatic ecosystem regarding a lack of clarity and accountability. As the industry navigates the deprecation of third-party cookies and a heightened focus on data privacy, solutions that empower publishers and offer greater transparency to advertisers are likely to gain prominence.
Furthermore, the success of this partnership could inspire further collaborations between supply-side platforms, data providers, and publishers to develop innovative solutions that cater to the specific needs of various advertiser categories. The ability to aggregate and package audience data around shared values, combined with robust targeting and reporting capabilities, offers a compelling alternative to the more generalized and often less effective methods that have dominated programmatic advertising.
As political campaigns continue to invest heavily in digital channels, the demand for sophisticated and ethical advertising solutions will only grow. OpenX and Givsly’s initiative represents a significant step forward, demonstrating that by prioritizing values, transparency, and publisher control, the digital advertising industry can foster more meaningful connections between advertisers and audiences, ultimately leading to a more efficient and accountable ecosystem for all stakeholders. The ongoing evolution of this technology and its adoption by a wider range of publishers will be a key indicator of its long-term impact on the future of digital political advertising and beyond.
