A common struggle of our fellow political ad agencies and all of our political clients this time of year: how to spend that late surge of donor money most effectively? **Dump it on Broadcast/Cable TV?** Not recommended (This is what most establishment GOP agencies will advise. It's profitable!). In most cases, campaigns that are in the fight at this point already have plenty of frequency on linear and streaming TV, and they're usually not alone on the ballot or the airwaves. Think of it in terms of ROI and net effects. If we spend $1,000 to make a voter see an ad for the 11th time this week, their 29th political ad, what are we really buying? **Facebook will take all of our money!** Not a great video platform, nor one for undecided or surge voters; and actively suppressive of political content for self-preservation of regulatory bodies. Are users prepared to consume video intentionally when on a vertical scroll? So what to do? Better to increase **reach**. Get to the edges of your audience. Most political campaigns are still overspending on traditional linear TV. But the two groups they need to reach, persuadable voters and surge voters, are not watching local news, cable network news, or even much traditional TV at all. So, with late funds, think about the voter who hates politics and may not vote at all — but if they do, when they go one level down on the ballot, will have to engage their most recent memory of a couple candidates for whom they are only loosely familiar with, compared to a Trump or a Harris. What are THEY watching and listening to? - Podcasts - Live Sports (MLB playoffs are well timed in certain markets) - Cultural Events/Primetime programming (Olympics OCs, The Oscars, etc) - Streaming on private Marketplace platforms - And a big one for Republicans in many battleground states: Spanish language platforms. Especially digital audio. There’s no single shared source of information any more, let alone platform. This is not new, [[For Trump and Harris, the Media Future Is Now|but it is a relatively new concern for political candidates when American politics hits its quadrennial crescendo. ]] The main thrust: voters at the outer margins of the [[Attention Economy]] _don’t like politics_. If you don’t like politics, but feel some possible civic or social motivation to vote, you might show up under that pressure — but you don’t want your infotainment to be too tainted by it. This, btw, is why you see Kamala Harris and Donald Trump running to Joe Rogan, Lex Friedman, and ‘Call Her Daddy’. Get to the edges. Evergreen advice; but doubly so if your name is not Trump or Harris and triply so in a Presidential year when the marginal voter exists fundamentally outside the margins of [[Four principal characteristics of a Political Idea|political ideas]].