Key Points
- DIRECTV is launching a new product called DIRECTV Elect that gives political ad buyers greater reach through connected TV platforms.
- The launch comes at a time when traditional TV, specifically broadcasting, has grown more dependent on political ad windfalls during election years to sustain their operations.
- If it catches on, DIRECTV Elect could prove to be a strong disruptor, chipping away at broadcast TV’s lead in the political ad space.
Political advertising has been a cash cow of the local broadcast television industry for decades. Now, satellite and streaming TV provider DIRECTV is hoping to chip away at that lead.
On Monday, the company announced a new ad product called DIRECTV Elect, an artificial intelligence-driven solution that aims to help political candidates and campaign reach prospective voters across connected TV (CTV) platforms.
DIRECTV Elect provides access to inventory spanning DIRECTV and national cable networks, which reach more than 130 million monthly active users nationwide. The platform enables campaigns and advocacy groups to place messages alongside trusted TV programming including news, sports and entertainment.
“AI is redefining how political campaigns discover and engage with voters, helping unlock deeper insights and more effective connections,” said Amy Leifer, the Chief Advertising Sales Officer at DIRECTV Advertising. “When that intelligence is complemented by the reach and credibility of television, voters gain greater clarity and confidence in what they see, while campaigns can achieve stronger results. DIRECTV Elect brings these strengths together — combining the trust of television, the precision and flexibility of digital, and the intelligence of DIRECTV Advantage, all fueled by AI.”
DIRECTV Elect is powered by DIRECTV Advantage, the company’s proprietary data solutions suite. It uses artificial intelligence to analyze millions of data points — including large language model (LLM) responses, news coverage, social media trends, donation patterns, and voting behaviors — to help political buyers understand voter sentiment, refine messaging, and target key audiences. The platform supports precise geographic targeting down to the ZIP code, district, or state level.
“Campaigns need to meet voters wherever they are, across linear, streaming, and digital environments,” said Drew Groner, Senior Vice President, Head of Sales and Marketing for DIRECTV Advertising. “Political ad buyers want to find new ways to reach undecided voters, voters in the battleground states and those in states with the highest projected spend. What is particularly interesting this year is that they’re looking to use live sports programming to break through to those audiences. DIRECTV Elect can now give campaigns access to premium live sports inventory on streaming at scale.”
The rollout comes as political ad spending is forecast to reach nearly $1 billion within the next year, up more than 20 percent from 2022.
The television industry has long enjoyed political ad windfalls during election seasons, which occur about once every two years. Broadcast TV in particular counts on that windfall to support their operations in off-election seasons — and DIRECTV’s new product, if it catches on, has the potential to disrupt political advertising at a time when broadcast has seen a significant amount of their core advertising revenue shift to CTV platforms.
A September survey by DIRECTV found that 61 percent of U.S. adults trust political ads on TV, a 56 percent advantage over social media, and more than half said ads seen on TV or streaming were the most persuasive.
