Scripps Leads New Station Group Aiming To Bring Political Ads to CTV

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Cox Media Group, Capitol Broadcasting, Graham Media participating in consortium

Election Ad Campaign Spending

The E.W. Scripps Co. is leading a new consortium of broadcasters looking to bring political advertising to their connected TV platforms.

In addition to Scripps, Cox Media Group, Capitol Broadcasting Co. and Graham Media Group are participating in the consortium.

Broadcast has traditionally gotten the lion’s share of the billions being spent on political advertising, but digital advertising has been gaining share. With another spending record expected to be set in the 2022 midterms, the broadcasters want to garner some of those digital dollars too as more viewers move to streaming.

Samantha Osborne Political Ads Scripps

Samantha Osborne (Image credit: E.W. Scripps)

Political spending is expected to reach about $9 billion in 2022, a number similar to last year’s presidential election. About $1.8 billion is expected to go to CTV.

Also: Scripps Looks Ahead to 2022 After Q4 Earnings Drop to $40 Million

“Collectively, we have a wall of inventory, and we’ve found a way to work together to make it easy for agencies to access that,” said Samantha Osborne, senior director of national sales for the Scripps Political CTV Consortium in Washington, D.C. “They can reach a high percentage of voters while making their own decisions but without having to work through numerous sales reps from different organizations. With the broadcasters we’ve assembled, we have billions of monthly premium connected TV impressions available for political advertisers.”

Through the consortium political ad buyers will be able to reach multiple CTV providers through one representative. 

“There are times when it makes sense to work together to produce a new and innovative product for the best interest of customers,” said John Conway, VP of WRAL Digital for Capitol Broadcasting. “This is one of those times when we can provide industry-leading service by collaborating.”

Scripps is exclusively working with Magnite to make CTV inventory available to agencies and programmatic buyers.

“Magnite is excited to be powering the technology for the Scripps Political CTV Consortium,” said Mike Laband, senior VP of CTV Platform for Magnite. “Working closely with Scripps and the consortium media owners, we are providing the market with a unique, scaled offering for political CTV ad investment.” ■

Jon Lafayette
Jon Lafayette

Jon has been business editor of Broadcasting+Cable since 2010. He focuses on revenue-generating activities, including advertising and distribution, as well as executive intrigue and merger and acquisition activity. Just about any story is fair game, if a dollar sign can make its way into the article. Before B+C, Jon covered the industry for TVWeek, Cable World, Electronic Media, Advertising Age and The New York Post. A native New Yorker, Jon is hiding in plain sight in the suburbs of Chicago.