In a strategic move to connect with voters where they spend most of their time, Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign is investing over $200 million in a digital advertising push.
The Harris-Walz campaign announced that the digital ad blitz, which will target mobile devices and popular streaming platforms, represents the largest digital ad buy in American political history.
The campaign plans to focus its digital outreach on platforms such as Hulu, Roku, YouTube, and Spotify, with a heavy emphasis on reaching voters in key battleground states.
The $200 million digital reservation constitutes the majority of the campaign’s overall $370 million advertising budget, leaving $170 million for traditional television ads. Notably, this investment does not include spending on social media.
According to a memo from Deputy Campaign Managers Quentin Fulks and Rob Flaherty, while television ads remain part of their strategy, they are being more selective about when and where those ads will air.
The campaign will prioritize airing ads during high-viewership events, including NFL, WNBA, NBA, NHL, and MLB games, as well as popular TV shows like The Golden Bachelor, Jeopardy, and Survivor.
Additionally, ads will be placed on daytime television programming on the Fox News Channel to engage conservative-leaning independent voters.
“Our data is clear that hundreds of thousands of Nikki Haley voters in battleground states and other conservative-leaning independents are moving towards us, and we’ll be meeting them where they are,” Fulks and Flaherty stated.
This announcement follows recent polling from The New York Times and Siena College indicating that Harris is closing the gap with former President Trump in Sun Belt states like Arizona, North Carolina, Nevada, and Georgia.
Meanwhile, the Trump-Vance campaign has yet to release its fall advertising plan, although a pro-Trump super PAC reportedly intends to spend $100 million on an ad blitz leading up to Labor Day in key swing states.
As digital streaming continues to surpass traditional television in popularity, the Harris-Walz campaign’s shift in focus reflects the evolving landscape of political outreach, where connecting with voters on mobile and streaming devices is more critical than ever.
