At A Glance
Political advertising spend is increasing across digital, connected TV (CTV), and programmatic channels as the election cycle progresses. Experian’s political audiences help political campaigns reach voters using party affiliation, issue-based personas, and ballot initiative relevance. These segments support geographic accuracy, message alignment, and cross-channel activation across major platforms.In this article…
Political advertising trends shaping campaign strategy
Political advertising is entering a high-growth cycle as the 2024 election season ramps up. Political ad spending is expected to surpass $10 billion; with Kamala Harris entering the race, spending priorities have moved, especially in key states like Ohio, where the Senate race alone has already seen $300 million in ad spending.
CTV is capturing a growing share of that investment. CTV’s share of political ad spending is projected to increase from 2.7% in 2020 to 12.8% this year. The Harris campaign, leading the charge, allocating $200 million for digital ads, with a significant portion committed to streaming platforms.
With more money flowing into more channels, effective audience targeting has become crucial in political marketing. The ability to reach voters based on behavior, geography, and media habits can influence perception, guide engagement, and impact election outcomes.
Three political campaign marketing audience categories
This article outlines three political audience segments that can help political campaigns and advocacy organizations align messaging with voter priorities, behaviors, and geography.
More than 240 politically relevant Experian Audiences are available across TV, demand-side, and supply-side platforms. These audiences support campaign planning and activation across three core categories:
- Political affiliations
- Political personas
- Relevant ballot initiative audiences
Let’s break down each category and which audiences you can use in your political campaign marketing to target voters this upcoming election season.
Our political affiliation audiences help your campaigns connect with voters based on likely party alignment or registration status. These audiences are built using voter registration data combined with Experian’s modeling techniques, allowing campaigns to reach voters at scale. These audiences are often used as a foundation, then layered with geography or issue-based attributes to refine reach.
Here are four audience segments that you can activate to target voters based on their predicted party affiliation:
- Democrat
- Republican
- Independent/Other
- Unregistered
How to use these audiences
A campaign organizer or media strategist can activate Independent/Other to reach persuadable voters who are not strongly tied to a party, particularly in competitive districts.
Our political persona audiences’ model political affiliation and ideological leaning, helping your campaigns understand where voters are likely to fall across the political spectrum – including committed party members, moderates, and those who lean without formal affiliation.
Here are 10 audience segments that you can activate to target voters based on their viewpoints on key political issues:
- Political Unregistered Liberal Leaning
- Political Unregistered Conservative Leaning
- Committed Democrats
- Moderate Democrats
- Political Leaning Liberals
- Liberal Leaning Independents
- Conservative Leaning Independent
- Political Leaning Conservatives
- Moderate Republicans
- Committed Republicans
How to use these audiences
A campaign organizer, policy director, or media planner can activate Liberal Leaning Independents to reach voters whose issue positions influence voting behavior more than party labels.
Issue-based audience layers that complement political personas
Political personas identify how voters think. Issue-based audiences help identify what motivates them. Campaigns often layer these audiences with political personas to align issue messaging with voter priorities.
Environmental issue alignment using GreenAware audiences
To reach voters who believe the environment is a key political issue, you can layer in our GreenAware audiences with our Political Personas audiences:
- Behavioral Greens
- Think Greens
- Potential Greens
- True Browns
Geographic and voting-pattern layers
To reach voters based on their regional voting patterns, you can use our new battleground counties and district audiences:
- Affiliation Switcher Counties
- Battleground Counties
- House Battleground Districts
- Democrat Counties
- Republican Counties
- Independent Counties
Ballot initiatives often hinge on everyday experiences, family structure, and local priorities. Experian Audiences help your campaigns reflect those realities in your outreach.
Local and national ballot initiative support
Consumer behaviors are often great predictors of local and national ballot initiatives. These behaviors help campaigns anticipate which issues are most likely to resonate within specific communities and households.
For example:
- Military households may engage with veteran-related initiatives
- Families with children may respond to education funding measures
- Environmentally engaged voters may support sustainability proposals
Experian offers consumer behavior and interest audiences that help campaigns align outreach, message framing, and issue emphasis with the everyday experiences that shape ballot initiative support.
- Military – Active
- Presence of Children > Ages: 0-18
How to use these audiences
A ballot initiative campaign manager or field organizer can activate audiences such as Military – Active or Presence of Children: Ages: 0–18 to align outreach with voters whose daily experiences connect directly to the ballot initiative.
Charitable causes
Charitable and advocacy causes often rely on donor participation and sustained financial support. Audience categories supporting charitable cause outreach and fundraising include lifestyle attributes, charitable giving behavior, household composition, and donation patterns.
- Contributes to Political Charities
- Discretionary Spend – Donations > $1,000-$1,999
How to use these audiences
A fundraising director or advocacy lead can activate Contributes to Political Charities to reach voters with a demonstrated history of political giving.
Demographic and financial context
Demographic and financial context, such as age, income, education, and household structure, influences how voters interpret ballot language, policy framing, and issue relevance. These factors shape how messages are received across different communities and life stages.
Demographic and financial audiences help campaigns apply this context by aligning message tone, framing, and emphasis with voter circumstances. When paired with geo-targeting, these audiences help reduce wasted spend and support delivery of relevant messages within the appropriate geographic boundaries.
- Financial FLA Friendly > In Market Auto Loan
- Geo-Indexed > Household Income: $50,000-$74,999
- Geo-Indexed > Education: Bachelor Degree
- Presence of Children > Ages: 10-12
- Marital status > Single
- Ages > 19-24
- Moms, Parents, Families > Mothers with infant child(ren) (0-3 yrs old)
- Financial FLA Friendly1> Income > $1,000-$24,999
- Financial FLA Friendly > In Market New Mortgage
How to use these audiences
A campaign communications or policy team can activate our demographic and financial audiences such as Geo-Indexed: Household Income: $50,000–$74,999 to adjust tone and framing of ballot language.
Media consumption and channel preferences
Understanding how voters consume media supports more effective channel planning. Media engagement audiences reflect preferences for streaming TV, email, digital video, and social platforms, helping campaigns match message format to viewing habits.
- Engagement Channel Preference > Email Engagement
- Engagement Channel Preference > Streaming TV
- Social Media > Snapchat
- Purchase Transactions > Ad Responders > Digital
- Television (TV) > Ad Avoiders/Ad Acceptors > Ad Acceptors
How to use these audiences
A media planner or digital strategist can activate Engagement Channel Preference > Streaming TV to match ballot initiative messaging with how voters prefer to consume media.
Mosaic® USA
Our Mosaic audiences are proprietary persona-based audience solution that combines hundreds of demographic and behavioral data points to classify all U.S. households into groups and types, creating a holistic view of voters and their interests.
- Mosaic – Singles and Starters > O55 – Family Troopers
- Mosaic – Cultural Connections > P56 – Mid-scale Medley
- Mosaic – Singles and Starters > O52 – Urban Ambition
How to use these audiences
A campaign strategy or insights team can activate Mosaic – Singles and Starters > O55 – Family Troopers to understand voters through a combined demographic and behavioral lens.
Occupation
Occupation provides important context for how voters evaluate ballot measures, policy proposals, and issue messaging. A voter’s work environment, industry, or employment status can influence how measures are perceived, particularly when policies affect jobs, education, agriculture, retirement, or economic conditions.
Occupation-based audiences help campaigns align messaging with professional context by tailoring language, examples, and issue framing to industries and work environments that are directly affected by specific measures.
- Management/Business and Financial Operations
- Sales
- Farming/Fish/Forestry
- At-Home: Retired/Empty Nesters
- Education
How to use these audiences
A policy advocate or outreach coordinator can activate Education or Farming/Fish/Forestry to tailor messaging around measures that affect specific industries or work environments.
Personal views
Understand consumers personal views around family, their social and work life.
- Psychographic/Attitudes > Work Centered
- Psychographic/Attitudes > Family Centered
- Psychographic/Attitudes > Social Isolation
How to use these audiences
A campaign organizer or messaging strategist can activate Psychographic/Attitudes > Family Centered to reach voters whose personal priorities influence how they interpret ballot measures.
What separates Experian’s syndicated audiences
Our syndicated audiences give you an advantage across channels, offering both scale and accuracy:
- Experian’s 3,500+ syndicated audiences can be sent to 200+ leading social platforms, such as Meta and Pinterest, TV, and programmatic advertising platforms, and activated directly within Audigent, a part of Experian, with private marketplaces (PMPs)./li>
- Reach consumers based on who they are, where they live, and their household makeup. Experian ranked #1 in accuracy by Truthset for key demographic attributes.
- Access to unique audiences through Experian’s Partner Audiences available on Experian’s data marketplace, within Audigent, a part of Experian, for activation in PMPs, and directly on platforms like DirectTV, DV360, Magnite, OpenAP, and The Trade Desk.
You can activate our syndicated audiences on-the-shelf of most major platforms. For a full list, download our syndicated audiences guide.
Where can you activate Experian Audiences?
Experian Audiences can be activated on 200+ leading social platforms, such as Meta and Pinterest, TV, and programmatic advertising platforms, and activated directly within Audigent, a part of Experian, with private marketplaces (PMPs), or found directly on over 30 platforms, including:
Need a custom audience? Reach out to our audience team, and we can help you build and activate an Experian audience on the platform of your choice.
You can activate political audiences across most major platforms, either directly or through Audigent PMPs, including select partner audiences shown below. For campaigns with specialized needs, our team can also support custom audience development and partner data collaboration.
Want to activate an Experian Audience on Meta, Pinterest, Snap, TikTok or on a platform not listed above? Contact us today.
Matching political messages with verified voter audiences
Political campaigns face pressure to reduce waste and prevent mismatched targeting, as recent election cycles show millions of dollars spent reaching voters who were not eligible or relevant to specific races.
Experian offers more than 240 politically relevant audiences, built on voter registration data and validated modeling, supporting responsible audience selection and geographic alignment. Our audience team reviews and maintains these segments to support relevance, scale, and compliance.
You can activate our political audiences on-the-shelf of most major platforms. Can’t find the audience you’re looking for or need a custom audience? Connect with our audience team for more information. Additionally, work with Experian’s network of data providers to build audiences and send to an Audigent PMP for activation.
Connect with our audience team
FAQs
Experian Audiences are pre-built, privacy-compliant consumer segments that help marketers target based on verified demographic, financial, and behavioral data. This includes more than 240 politically relevant audiences designed for flexibility across channels and can be activated on 200+ platforms, including major social, CTV, and programmatic partners.
Experian ranks #1 in demographic accuracy according to Truthset, and marketers can choose from 3,500+ syndicated audiences that capture signals such as income, spending behavior, household structure, financial attitudes, and ability to pay. These same audiences are also available through partnerships on platforms like DirecTV, Dish, Magnite, OpenAP, and The Trade Desk.
For a deeper look at our audience catalog, explore our syndicated audience guide.
Three political audience segments that can help political campaigns and advocacy organizations align messaging with voter priorities, behaviors, and geography.
More than 240 politically relevant Experian Audiences are available across TV, demand-side, and supply-side platforms. These audiences support campaign planning and activation across three core categories:
– Political affiliations
– Political personas
– Relevant ballot initiative audiences
Political campaigns, advocacy groups, ballot initiative committees, and public affairs organizations use Experian’s political audiences to align their outreach with voter registration data, modeled attributes, and geographic boundaries.
Experian’s political affiliation audiences use voter registration records combined with Experian modeling to scale reach beyond file-based targeting and support activation across media platforms. In addition, Experian offers political persona audiences, which are built using modeled signals that reflect ideological leaning and issue orientation rather than formal party registration. Political personas help campaigns understand voting mindset and policy priorities across the political spectrum, including voters who lean without formal party affiliation.
Experian Audiences can be activated on 200+ leading social platforms, such as Meta and Pinterest, TV, and programmatic advertising platforms, and activated directly within Audigent, a part of Experian, with private marketplaces (PMPs), or found directly on over 30 platforms.
Experian’s political personas focus on issue orientation and voting mindset, while Experian’s party affiliation audiences focus on voter registration status. Political persona audiences support messaging tied to policy topics, economic priorities, and social issues, while party affiliation audiences are commonly used to align outreach with registered party status and base mobilization strategies.
Footnote
- “Fair Lending Friendly” indicates data fields that Experian has made available without use of certain demographic attributes that may increase the likelihood of discriminatory practices prohibited by the Fair Housing Act (“FHA”) and Equal Credit Opportunity Act (“ECOA”). These excluded attributes include, but may not be limited to, race, color, religion, national origin, sex, marital status, age, disability, handicap, family status, ancestry, sexual orientation, unfavorable military discharge, and gender. Experian’s provision of Fair Lending Friendly indicators does not constitute legal advice or otherwise assures your compliance with the FHA, ECOA, or any other applicable laws. Clients should seek legal advice with respect to your use of data in connection with lending decisions or application and compliance with applicable laws.
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In our Ask the Expert Series, we interview leaders from our partner organizations who are helping lead their brands to new heights in adtech. Today’s interview is with Georgia Campbell, Head of Strategic Partnerships at Kontext. What types of audiences does Kontext provide, and what are some top use cases for these insights in marketing strategies? Kontext leverages its 1st-party, deterministic shopping data to generate real-time online audiences. What sets Kontext apart is our ability to see the entire consumer journey, from shopping interest to intent and purchases, at a SKU-level. This comprehensive visibility allows us to create purchase-based audiences across various consumer verticals, such as frequent online shoppers, consumers shopping for beauty, segments using Mastercard, or Black Friday enthusiasts. Our data engine, built on a foundation of approximately 100 million consumer profiles and over 10 billion full-funnel, real-time shopping events, enables the creation of precise audience segments. This real-time 1st-party shopper data is invaluable for partners aiming to understand and engage with consumers more effectively. Whether a brand wants to activate past shoppers in a specific category or reach new audiences with a propensity to buy, Kontext provides the insights needed to make informed decisions. Some examples of audience types include these (and hundreds more): In-Market Shoppers: Consumers showing high intent to purchase specific categories, like skincare or electronics, based on recent online behavior. Past Purchasers: Shoppers who have made verified purchases within specific time frames, such as beauty products in the last 18 months. Frequent Shoppers: High-frequency buyers identified through repeated purchasing behaviors. Seasonal Shoppers: Consumers active during key shopping seasons, like Black Friday, Mother’s Day, Valentine's Day, etc Premium Buyers: Shoppers who used a premium CC (eg. Amex) and a higher AOV (average order value) Beauty Buyers: an audience that has indicated intent to purchase beauty products (deterministic past purchasers also avail) By using Kontext data, brands can identify the right audiences across multiple verticals, such as retail, CPG, health & wellness, auto, business, energy & utility, financial, and travel. Additionally, our collaboration with Experian allows further refinement of these audiences through layered data from specialty categories like demographics, lifestyle & interests, mobile location, and TV viewing habits. How is Kontext’s data sourced, and what differentiates it from other data providers? Kontext’s data is unique because it is deterministic, 1st-party, and collected as transactions occur. We capture the entire path-to-purchase, down to the SKU-level product detail, across 100 million consumer profiles and more than 10 billion real-time shopping events. Our proprietary technology, embedded in widgets across our 5 million premium online destinations, tracks the full consumer journey—from reading an article of interest to clicking on our dynamic commerce modules, adding items to cart, and completing purchases. This real-time data collection ensures there is no lag between digital events and their connection to consumer profiles. Unlike other providers, we do not aggregate data from multiple platforms; instead, we focus on building our models and insights based on authentic online consumer behavior. Our data stands out due to its: Deterministic Nature: We capture 1st-party data as transactions occur (all in real time) Full-Funnel Coverage: We capture consumer journeys from awareness to purchase, providing a complete view of consumer behavior. Real-Time Insights: Our data engine processes events in real-time, enabling timely and relevant marketing actions. How does Kontext ensure the accuracy and reliability of its audience data? Kontext ensures accuracy and reliability through our unique technology and direct data sourcing. By not aggregating data from other platforms, we maintain control over the quality and integrity of our insights. Our continuous investment in refining our models around online consumer behavior further enhances the precision of our audience data. What types of brands or verticals might resonate the most with Kontext audiences for activation? Any brand looking to understand and activate online shopping behavior – informed by 1st-party transaction data – will resonate with Kontext audiences. Essentially, any vertical that benefits from understanding real-time shopping behaviors, such as retail, health & wellness, auto, and financial services, will find our data invaluable. We have particularly strong insights in beauty, hair care, health & wellness, and values-based online shopping habits, as well as the food & beverage space. Retail & Consumer Goods: Leveraging shopping behavior data for targeted campaigns. Health & Wellness: Identifying consumers with specific health and wellness interests. Automotive: Targeting potential buyers of electric vehicles or eco-friendly products. Financial Services: Engaging high-value shoppers with premium credit card usage. And many more How does Kontext’s data help advertisers navigate the challenges posed by the deprecation of third-party cookies? As third-party cookies become less reliable, Kontext’s 1st-party data becomes invaluable. Our deterministic data engine, which does not rely on cookies, offers: Direct Consumer Insights: Accurate and consented data directly from consumer interactions. Privacy Compliance: Our data collection methods are fully compliant with privacy regulations, ensuring secure usage. Cross-Device Coverage: We use verified digital identifiers, allowing seamless unification and targeting across multiple devices. What measures does Kontext take to maintain data privacy and compliance, and how does this benefit advertisers? Data privacy and compliance are fundamental to Kontext. We meet or exceed all privacy compliance and security standards, ensuring that our data sourcing and usage are transparent and comply with regulations (CCPA, CPRA, VCDPA, etc). Kontext prioritizes data privacy and compliance through: Consented Data Collection: All data is collected with explicit consumer consent. Robust Security Protocols: Data is encrypted and secured with industry-leading practices. Compliance with Regulations: We adhere to global privacy laws, including GDPR and CCPA. User Control: Consumers have the ability to opt-out and manage their data preferences. Can you share success stories / use-cases where advertisers significantly improved their campaigns using Kontext’s data? To give you a sense of how Kontext data can be applied, here are two use-cases: Beauty Brand Campaign: An agency hoping to activate an audience of beauty purchasers for a Major Beauty Brand could utilize Kontext's custom audience of high-value beauty product purchasers. By targeting those consumers who had bought similar products in the last 12 months and had an average cart size of over $50, the campaign would significantly increase performance and ROAS. Electric Vehicle Launch: For a major auto manufacturer’s EV launch, Kontext could be used to identify eco-friendly consumers who had not yet purchased an EV but had shown interest in sustainable products. This precise targeting could lead to higher engagement and conversion rates for the campaign. Thanks for the interview. Any recommendations for our readers if they want to learn more? For those interested in learning more about Kontext, reach out for a personalized consultation. Contact us About our expert Georgia Campbell, Head of Strategic Partnerships, Kontext In her current role as Head of Strategic Partnerships at Kontext, Georgia plays a pivotal role in shaping the company's strategic direction within the data space. With a deep-seated expertise in leveraging data to drive impact for companies, Georgia has been forging key partnerships that enhance the effectiveness and reach of Kontext's offerings. Georgia comes from a background in emerging technology, where she has been focused on cultivating partnerships and employing data-driven approaches to spearhead market expansion efforts. She started her career in finance, managing investments across equity, debt, and alternative assets at Brown Advisory. In this Q&A, Georgia shares her insights on Kontext's Onboarding partnership with Experian, offering perspective on how Kontext's unique insights can unlock new opportunities for advertisers and brands alike. Latest posts
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