Today the Democratic National Committee announced a $22 million general-election YouTube reservation across 14 battleground states (AZ, CO, FL, GA, MI, MN, ME, NC, NH, NV, OH, PA, VA, WI) to help support get-out-the-vote efforts for the eventual nominee and Democrats running at every level of the ballot.
“Now more than ever, it’s critical that we reach voters where they are online — and this digital program will help us mobilize the voters we need to make Donald Trump a one-term president,” said Democratic National Committee Chair Tom Perez. “By making these kinds of historic, early investments in our battlegrounds and campaign infrastructure, the DNC is putting our eventual nominee and Democrats running at every level of the ballot in the strongest possible position to secure victory in November.”
“By making this reservation now, Democrats are ensuring we’ll be able to reach voters at the right time, with the right message and in some of the most critical battlegrounds,” said Democratic National Committee Chief Mobilization Officer Patrick Stevenson. “Before the coronavirus hit, the DNC was already preparing an aggressive general election online strategy — and the pandemic has only reinforced the importance of communicating with voters across a wide range of online channels and utilizing a variety of innovative, data-driven digital tactics. That’s the approach we’re taking, and these ads will be another important tool that will help our eventual nominee and Democrats running at every level win in November.”
Additional details about the reservation:
- The reservation includes a variety of YouTube inventory, including: several nationwide YouTube Mastheads scheduled at key points in the cycle as well as various in-stream video reservations across the 14 states.
- The video reservation includes skippable, non-skippable, and six-second bumper ads, and will generate hundreds of millions of targeted impressions.
- The in-stream video reservations will run October 1 through Election Day in every state except FL, MI, WI and PA, where the reservation will start September 1 given those states’ high propensity for early voting.
- Because the video reservations are designed to complement the eventual nominee’s mobilization and GOTV efforts, they will target specific ZIP codes designed to maximize Democratic turnout.
- This is our initial reservation, and additional states and funding could be added as the cycle continues. The DNC is in the process of reserving more high-impact inventory across several other platforms.
- By making the reservation now, the DNC is able to lock in more inventory at a better cost.
- The ad targeting will be led by the DNC’s data and technology programs, utilizing the DNC’s state-of-the-art voter file which includes demographic and behavioral modeling.
The reservation is part of the DNC’s programs to lay the groundwork for our eventual nominee to win the general election and support Democrats at every level of the ballot. The DNC has also launched the Battleground Build-Up 2020, which funds organizers, offices and staff across 12 critical states; Organizing Corps 2020 to help train 1,000 additional staffers in key battlegrounds (with a special focus on communities of color); an on-the-ground voter protection infrastructure; the Trump War Room, a rapid response operation that works to shape the narrative of the Trump presidency; a state-of-the-art voter file and data warehouse, which includes updated, high-quality cell phone numbers; and reached a historic agreement with state parties to participate in the new Democratic Data Exchange.