Loading...

Three audience categories for political campaign marketing

Published: January 30, 2024 by Hayley Schneider, Sr. Manager, Content Marketing

Reach your ideal voters in 2024 with targeted advertising

As we approach the 2024 election season, the advertising landscape is poised for tremendous growth, with political ad spending projected 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.Connected TV’s (CTV’s) share of political ad spending is set to jump from 2.7% in 2020 to 12.8% this year. The Harris campaign is leading the charge, allocating $200 million for digital ads, much of which will go to streaming platforms.

During this political campaign marketing season, effective audience targeting is crucial, as it holds the potential to sway voters, shape public opinion, and ultimately determine election outcomes. In this blog post, we’ll highlight political audiences that can assist political campaigns and organizations in connecting with their desired audiences in a meaningful and impactful way.

What separates Experian’s syndicated audiences

  • Experian’s 2,400+ syndicated audiences are available directly on over 30 leading television, social, programmatic advertising platforms, and directly within Audigent for activation within private marketplaces (PMPs).
  • 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 for activation in PMPs and directly on platforms like DirectTV, Dish, Magnite, OpenAP, and The Trade Desk.

Three political campaign marketing audience categories

Over 240 politically relevant audiences are available on-the-shelf of leading TV, demand, and supply platforms to help your political partners gain share based on three political audience categories:

  1. Political affiliations
  2. Political personas
  3. 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.

Political affiliations

Political affiliations

Target audiences could include those who are likely to be in the Democratic, Independent, or Republican parties, or are likely to not be registered to a political party. Our political affiliation audiences use a foundation of voter registration data with Experian’s advanced statistical models to reach voters at scale, based on their political party.

Here are four audience segments that you can activate to target voters based on their predicted party affiliation:

  1. Political Affiliation > Democrat
  2. Political Affiliation > Republican
  3. Political Affiliation > Independent/Other
  4. Political Affiliation > Unregistered

Political personas

Political personas

One key target audience could be voters who are likely to be influenced by a political candidate’s renewable energy program. Additional target audiences could include those who are likely to be influenced by a candidate’s position on the economy or healthcare.

Here are 10 audience segments that you can activate to target voters based on their viewpoints on key political issues:

  1. Political Personas > Political Unregistered Liberal Leaning
  2. Political Personas > Political Unregistered Conservative Leaning
  3. Political Personas > Committed Democrats
  4. Political Personas > Moderate Democrats
  5. Political Personas > Political Leaning Liberals
  6. Political Personas > Liberal Leaning Independents
  7. Political Personas > Conservative Leaning Independent
  8. Political Personas > Political Leaning Conservatives
  9. Political Personas > Moderate Republicans
  10. Political Personas > Committed Republicans

To reach voters who believe the environment is a key political issue, you can layer in our GreenAware audiences with our Political Personas audiences:

  1. GreenAware > Behavioral Greens
  2. GreenAware > Think Greens
  3. GreenAware > Potential Greens
  4. GreenAware > True Browns
  5. Psychographic/Attitudes > Shopping Behavior > Smart Greens

To reach voters based on their regional voting patterns, you can use our new battleground counties and district audiences:

  1. Affiliation Switcher Counties
  2. Battleground Counties
  3. House Battleground Districts
  4. Democrat Counties
  5. Republican Counties
  6. Independent Counties

Relevant ballot initiative audiences

Relevant ballot initiative audiences

You can also reach voters based on their attitudes and behaviors related to key ballot measures. Let’s walk through a few examples below and highlight relevant syndicated audiences that you can activate during the 2024 political campaign marketing season.

Local and national ballot initiative support

Consumer behaviors are often great predictors of down-ballot initiatives. For example, military families may show favor toward initiatives supporting veterans, households with children present may show more interest in school funding, and those interested in the environment will favor green initiatives. Experian offers an array of consumer behavior and interests audiences to help you fine-tune your targeting and messaging strategies.

  1. Lifestyle and Interests (Affinity) > Occupation > Military – Active
  2. Demographics > Presence of Children > Ages: 0-18

Charitable causes

Understanding where consumers are actively donating to charitable causes paints a clear picture into their political interests.

  1. Lifestyle and Interests (Affinity) > Charitable Causes > Contributes to Political Charities
  2. Consumer Financial Insights > Discretionary Spend – Donations > $1,000-$1,999

Demographics

Demographics play a critical role into voter opinions with presence of children, age, and household income influencing decisions at the polls.

  1. Geo-Indexed > Demographics > Household Income: $50,000-$74,999
  2. Geo-Indexed > Demographics > Education: Bachelor Degree
  3. Demographics > Presence of Children > Ages: 10-12
  4. Demographics > Marital status > Single
  5. Demographics > Ages > 19-24
  6. Lifestyle and Interests (Affinity) > Moms, Parents, Families > Mothers with infant child(ren) (0-3 yrs old)

Millions of campaign dollars were wasted in the 2022 midterm elections when voters were targeted with ads for issues and candidates they couldn’t vote for. Using advances in geo-targeting can help save wasted spend and ensure relevant messages reach the right voters.

Finance

Income and large financial decisions often trigger changes in perspective and influence voter behaviors.

  1. Financial FLA Friendly1 > Income > $1,000-$24,999
  2. Financial FLA Friendly > In Market New Mortgage
  3. Financial FLA Friendly > In Market Auto Loan

Media consumption and engagement

Media consumption and engagement offers great insights into how voter interest, current channel engagement, and engagement in political issues.

  1. TrueTouch: Communication Preferences > Engagement Channel Preference > Email Engagement
  2. TrueTouch: Communication Preferences > Engagement Channel Preference > Streaming TV
  3. Social Media > Snapchat
  4. Purchase Transactions > Ad Responders > Digital
  5. Television (TV) > Ad Avoiders/Ad Acceptors > Ad Acceptors

Mosaic

Proprietary persona-based audience solution that combines demographic and behavioral data to create a holistic view of voters and their interests.

  1. Mosaic – Personas – Lifestyle and Interests > Group O: Singles and Starters > O55 – Family Troopers

Occupation

Provides the opportunity to deliver targeted messaging on measures based on a consumer’s occupation.

  1. Demographics > Occupation > Management/Business and Financial Operations
  2. Demographics > Occupation > Sales
  3. Demographics > Occupation > Farming/Fish/Forestry
  4. Consumer Behaviors > At-Home: Retired/Empty Nesters
  5. Consumer Behaviors > Occupation: Education

Personal views

Understand consumers personal views around family, their social and work life.

  1. Psychographic/Attitudes > Personal Views > Work Centered
  2. Psychographic/Attitudes > Personal Views > Family Centered
  3. Psychographic/Attitudes > Personal Views > Social Isolation

We can help you match your message to your audience

With Experian’s political audiences, you can confidently execute your political campaign marketing, knowing our audiences are based on voter registration data and advanced predictive technology. Our highly accurate models are validated by our expert audience team to ensure precise targeting and drive impact and influence with the right audience. We understand that finding a trusted data provider can be a challenge, which is why we make it easy to access our syndicated audiences.

For a full list of all of Experian’s syndicated audiences, download our syndicated audiences guide.

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.

CivicScience, L2, Resonate logos

Connect with our audience team

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Footnote

  1. “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.

Latest posts

Loading…
CES 2023: Clean rooms, activation, and more

Experian kicks off the AdTech year at CES  What better way to jump-start start 2023 than a trip to Las Vegas for the Consumer Electronics Show (CES). Our team was thrilled to participate in this annual kick-off with the AdTech community. The uniqueness of what CES has become for our industry can be defined as the intersection between technology brands, digital, television, and AdTech. CES creates the space necessary for marketing and advertising leaders to collaborate to drive rewarding outcomes for the year ahead.  Our goal in attending CES was to connect with our partners, clients, and industry leaders to build relationships, form strategic plans, and listen. The opportunity to learn about our industry’s challenges and goals enables us to develop initiatives, drive success, and support our clients and partners.  Keep reading for our 2023 CES AdTech recap. “I have been to CES too many times to mention the number; this year was as energetic, collaborative, engaged, and effective as I can ever recall. Our presence was first-class and meticulously organized, which made our interactions as robust as possible. It's a team effort, and we appreciate all the work that goes into this event. “ – Greg Koerner, Vice President of Digital Advertising Sales Our CES AdTech recap  Supporting publishers and advertisers is top of mind for us. Many of our conversations focused on the technologies we deliver or collaborate with our partners to provide.   Clean rooms and activation were two common themes throughout our discussions.  Clean rooms  Consumer privacy, regulatory requirements, and data deprecation are driving the AdTech industry to talk about and explore clean rooms. There’s a need to address data collection, storage, analysis, and sharing. Clean rooms are a potential solution that can standardize data and address interoperability issues.  Activation  In 2023, we predict that digital activation will increase. We continue to see increased demand for environments where alternative identifiers are being transacted (like demand side platforms and video). Social platforms will continue to experience volatility and advertisers will shift their focus to demand-side, video, and supply-side platforms. Download our 2023 Digital audience trends and predictions report to learn where you should activate your audiences in 2023. We can help plan your 2023 digital activation strategy.  How we support clean rooms and activation  Our Consumer Sync and Consumer View products support these areas and can help you understand people better–so you and your customers can connect with confidence.  What is Consumer Sync?  Consumer Sync, our consumer identity product, enables signal agnostic collaboration across marketers and technologies, bringing together digital devices, IDs, households, and attributes. Consumer Sync’s Resolution and Collaboration solutions can help you gain a better understanding of your consumers and make identities actionable in any environment.   What is Consumer View?  Consumer View, our data discovery product, offers marketers a robust, privacy-first understanding of their customers and prospects. Grounded in consumer identity, Consumer View provides the data foundation to engage consumers where, when, and how they want. Consumer View’s Audience and Attribution solutions provide expansive coverage so that you can fill in the gaps to better understand your prospects.  Additionally, our collaborative efforts with strong partnerships across the clean room ecosystem and with our activation partners help our clients serve the best ads, at the best times, to the right audience.     “CES is back and was a great way to kick off the new year! We were able to meet with a high volume of clients to eagerly talk about building new solutions for the TV space. We are excited to see where these conversations lead in the next few months.” – Ali Mack, Senior Director of TV Advertising Sales  Let’s navigate what’s new in our industry, together  We can help you connect with your consumers in innovative, impactful ways. Contact us to continue the conversation and learn more about our Consumer Sync and Consumer View products. We can help you take advantage of the opportunities on the horizon.  Get in touch

Jan 17,2023 by Experian Marketing Services

Best digital audience strategies for 2023

2022 was a year of adjustment. Consumers adjusted to a post-pandemic world and returned to pre-pandemic shopping behaviors. Consumers adjusted their budgets as the price of goods skyrocketed, as a result of high inflation. To combat inflation, the U.S. Federal Reserve adjusted interest rates. This further restricted consumer buying power. The AdTech ecosystem also experienced adjustments. Google adjusted the date of cookie deprecation. Federal legislation forced technology companies to adjust their consumer privacy practices. Marketers and advertisers adjusted how they address interoperability issues by investing in clean room solutions. This year of adjustment makes it harder to predict where consumers will spend and how marketers should plan their digital audience strategies.   What will 2023 bring to AdTech? Download our 2023 AdTech trends and predictions report to access our forecast to help you plan for 2023. Our report will answer:    How has digital activation changed over the last four years?    What are the top advertising platforms?    Which digital audiences are advertisers buying?   Do digital audience strategies vary by vertical?   Our AdTech trends forecast    In 2023, digital activation will increase. Digital audience activation continues to grow at a significant rate despite market shocks like the pandemic, inflation, and higher interest rates.   Given the current economic uncertainty, we predict that marketers will look toward tried and true channels where they are confident they will have quality audiences, inventory, and be able to drive ROI.  What will digital activation look like in 2023?   Between 2018-2021, digital audience activation increased annually by 46%. Using projected 2022 results, between 2018-2022, it will increase annually by 34%. We anticipate continued growth in 2023.  Top advertising platforms in 2023   2023 will see increased digital activation, but which platforms will advertisers use to serve their ads?   Advertisers will shift their focus to demand-side, video, and supply-side platforms.  Social media platforms will continue to experience volatility.   Advertisers will place bigger bets on the combination of addressable and CTV.  Our report will also reveal which platforms are creating a path toward a post-cookie future and where data-sharing relationships will become the strongest.  The most popular advertiser audiences trending now in AdTech   Which digital audiences are advertisers buying?   Demographics    Modeled Lifestyles   Behavioral  Custom Audiences   Traditional targeting methods like Demographics and Modeled Lifestyles are the baseline of many marketing strategies. We predict that we will continue to see marketers activate against these data sets.  Digital audience strategies by vertical  Digital audience strategies vary by vertical. Download our report to uncover the digital audiences purchased by advertisers in the following industries:   Financial Services   Health   Retail & CPG   Technology & Communication   Download our new 2025 Digital trends and predictions report Marketers, agencies, and platforms are facing new challenges as privacy regulations evolve, AI technology advances, and consumer behaviors shift. Our latest report highlights actionable strategies for navigating these changes and improving how you connect with audiences, measure impact, and deliver results. What you’ll learn Navigating signal loss: Explore the rise of alternative IDs and contextual targeting as privacy regulations and signal loss reshape data-driven advertising.  Connected TV (CTV): Understand the growth of connected TV (CTV), the importance of frequency capping, and strategies for effective audience activation.  Omnichannel campaigns: Learn how marketers are moving from channel-specific strategies to audience-led omnichannel campaigns that tell a more cohesive story. Retail media networks: Learn how retail media networks (RMNs) are capitalizing on enriched first-party data to learn more about their customers and reach them across on-site and off-site inventory.  Curation: Examine how curation is transforming programmatic campaigns by combining audience, contextual, and supply chain signals to deliver premium inventory packages that maximize addressability, efficiency, and performance. Download now Get in touch

Dec 20,2022 by Experian Marketing Services

Align your audience planning with TV and digital viewing behavior

Viewers shift between streaming services, live TV, and on-demand content across multiple devices, making it harder to know exactly who sees your message. Instead of wondering if your ads are reaching the right viewers, it's important to have a clearer understanding of viewing behaviors so you can focus your efforts on the audiences that matter most to your campaign. Experian has collaborated with  The Advertising Research Foundation (ARF) to create new opportunities for marketers. By combining data from the ARF’s DASH (Device and Account Sharing) study with Experian Marketing Data, we’ve developed a new way for you to understand and reach modern TV viewers. Instead of estimating who might see your message, you gain a clearer view of viewing behavior and can align activation with the audiences that matter to your campaign. What is the DASH study? The DASH study, developed by the ARF together with the National Opinion Research Center (NORC) and seven industry sponsors, including Experian, provides a detailed picture of how American households consume TV and digital media. This research offers an unbiased and accurate view of media habits, measuring everything from device usage to streaming account sharing. When this viewership data is combined with Experian Marketing Data, it allows for the creation of unique audience segments. These segments are built on real-world media and device usage, providing a more accurate representation of how people watch, share, and engage with TV content. This combination of identity and connectivity helps marketers understand exactly how people engage with media, technology, and their favorite brands. “Television viewing behavior has undergone a massive transformation, making it challenging for advertisers to reach their target audience and optimize frequency. These audiences give advertisers invaluable tools for managing their campaigns in an increasingly fragmented environment.”Doug McLennan, Director of Product Management How do DASH audiences help? By using the DASH study, Experian developed TV audience segments that reflect how people truly interact with content. These audiences provide the insights you need to align your campaigns with actual media consumption habits, helping you reach viewers with more relevant messages. This approach moves beyond basic demographics. It allows you to connect with people based on specific behaviors, such as co-viewing, screen preferences, or household streaming habits. The result is a more focused and efficient advertising strategy that delivers better outcomes. “DASH has established itself as a reliable and unbiased calibration set, a “true North”, for media measurement. Our collaboration with Experian puts the power and precision of DASH in the hands of marketers and advertisers as well.” Paul Donato, Chief Research Officer Which audience segments help you target viewers more effectively? These audience segments make it possible to find specific types of viewers and align your marketing campaigns with their media usage. Whether you’re connecting with people who are receptive to ads, households that enjoy shows together, or individuals who are frequent streamers, you can approach campaigns with greater accuracy and confidence. We’re pleased to introduce these segments and continue our partnership with the ARF, creating new opportunities to help you build effective connections with your target audiences.  Explore some of our key audience segments: Ad Acceptors: Viewers who are more open to watching advertisements. Ad Avoiders: People who actively try to skip or block ads. Co-Watchers: Households where multiple people view content together. Solo Watchers: Individuals who typically watch TV by themselves. Paid TV High Spenders: Households that subscribe to multiple paid TV or streaming services. Large Screen Viewers: People who primarily watch content on large television screens. Small Screen Viewers: Individuals who prefer watching on smaller devices like tablets or phones. How can I use these audiences? Experian’s DASH audiences are available in your demand-side platform (DSP) of choice, ready for activation across all offline and online channels. This easy access means you can build more effective campaigns without changing your existing workflow. Using these segments, you can manage your advertising with greater confidence. You gain the tools needed to navigate the fragmented media environment and ensure your campaigns are seen by the right people. This targeted approach helps you maximize the impact of your marketing efforts and achieve your goals. Strengthen your TV planning and activation with DASH audiences. Are you ready to connect with your audience in a more meaningful way? FAQs What is the DASH study? The DASH study, developed by ARF, provides an unbiased view of how American households consume TV and digital media. It measures device usage, streaming habits, and account sharing to create a detailed picture of media consumption. How does Experian help advertisers understand media habits? Experian combines its Marketing Data with insights from studies like DASH to create audience segments based on real-world behaviors. This allows advertisers to align their campaigns with how people actually consume content. What types of audiences can I target with these segments? Audience segments include Ad Acceptors, Co-Watchers, Solo Watchers, Paid TV High Spenders, and Large or Small Screen Viewers, enabling precise targeting based on viewing habits. Why is understanding viewing behavior important for advertisers? By focusing on actual media consumption habits, advertisers can deliver more relevant messages, reduce wasted impressions, and improve the overall effectiveness of their campaigns. Latest posts

Dec 19,2022 by Experian Marketing Services

Subscribe to our newsletter

Enter your name and email for the latest updates

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

About Experian Marketing Services

At Experian Marketing Services, we use data and insights to help brands have more meaningful interactions with people. As leaders in the evolution of the advertising landscape, Experian Marketing Services can help you identify your customers and the right potential customers, uncover the most appropriate communication channels, develop messages that resonate, and measure the effectiveness of marketing activities and campaigns.

Visit our website

Subscribe to our newsletter

Stay up to date on the latest industry news and receive expert tips from our marketing experts.
Subscribe now!