The media company saying no to political ad dollars to keep marketers happy.
Swing state voters have had enough of political advertising
This year the number of advertisers looking for a politics free environment to put their ads has doubled versus the last presidential cycle, according to Sean McCaffrey, the CEO of GSTV, a video network that provides content and commercials at gas stations.
I spoke to McCaffrey about why the company has decided to decline the gusher of political ad dollars currently flooding battleground states. “We do not take political,” he said. “We have tens of thousands of partners on the retail side and they don’t think political is appropriate. It’s not a place where political discourse makes sense to them.”
McCaffrey said the company had taken political ads in previous cycles but he is playing a long term game. The hope is that in making gas stations a politics free zone advertisers who don’t want to be sandwiched between negative messaging about abortions and gun violence will spend at GSTV instead. The decision means saying no to millions of dollars coming to the digital out-of-home ad market from the campaigns. It’s a gamble that McCaffrey is prepared to make based on what consumers want. The company ran a survey this summer finding that two thirds of consumers said they saw too many political ads and that they went out of their way to avoid them.
“I live in New York and we are headquartered in Michigan; it’s a very different ad experience,” said McCaffrey. Michigan is second only to Pennsylvannia in swing state ad spending. “It’s a virtual assault of political ads from all sides, all issues. This is going to be one of the most expensive federal cycles ever.” A projected $10.2 billion will be spent across all types of media, according to an AdImpact report, cited by The Washington Post. That’s 13 percent more than four years ago, another record breaking year.
The Harris and Trump campaigns and a host of PACs are drowning out other categories such as car and credit card advertisers and it ends up, “changing the cultural climate,” for marketers said McCaffrey.
Hayden Cook, a 19-year-old from Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania told the BBC that despite installing an ad blocker on Youtube and not watching cable, he is still bombarded with ads all day long. “It’s still so constant. Work is six minutes away - you’re already hearing two or three ads; then we have the radio on at work and there’s ads there.”
Google platforms - search and YouTube - took in some $336.1 million in political ads between March and October 1 while the campaigns spent some $325.1 million on Meta’s platforms including Facebook and Instagram. Elon Musk’s X received $7.13 million over the same period, according to data cited by The Washington Post.
There are not many places to avoid political advertising but GSTV isn’t alone. TikTok has said it is not carrying political ads; a rule that’s been in place since 2019. Even so NBC News last month found plenty of political ads on the platform, with TikTok responding that they’ve been fast to remove them.
GSTV isn’t just saying no to political ads, there is no political news on its video network either. It shares tech and business news, pop culture and music content as consumers are pumping gas or grabbing coffee. In a sign of how far advertisers are running from politics and news in general, Scripps News was forced to shut down last month, despite growing audiences. E.W. Scripps CEO Adam Symson put the blame at the door of advertisers. “Many brands and agencies have decided that advertising around national news is just too risky for them given the polarized nature of this country, no matter the accolades and credentials a news organization receives for its objectivity. I vehemently disagree, but it's hurting Scripps News, along with every other national linear and digital news outlet.”
For those wondering how and why they’re they’re being targeted by campaigns, the Electronic Frontier Foundation has a handy explainer along with ways to limit access to what’s between you and the ballot box.