Country’s Leading Independent Provider of Ad-Sales Representation to Cable TV Systems Sees Triple-Digit – and Higher – Growth in “Battleground” States

 The company saw particularly robust activity in hotly contested states.

• In North Carolina, Viamedia saw 266% growth for first-quarter 2022 vs. first-quarter 2018, driven by conservative political action committee (PAC) spending, including for the open U.S. Senate race there;
• In Georgia, Viamedia saw 277% growth, driven by spending in the gubernatorial and U.S. Senate races;
• In Pennsylvania, home to a gubernatorial contest and a particularly high-profile Senate race, both open-seat races, Viamedia saw 670% spending growth;
• In California, Viamedia saw an explosion of issues spending around climate change and gambling, driving up the spending the company handles there 3,399%;
• And in Ohio the company has seen spending vault by 6,561% across various races, including another high-profile, open-seat Senate contest.

The company also saw a significant spike in digital political advertising, driving the portion of spending on digital to 18% of the total in first-quarter 2022 vs. 4% in first-quarter 2018 – though the digital spending remains dwarfed by linear TV spending.

The data was culled from political advertising purchased on more than 60 multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs) of various sizes in more than 70 markets.  

“What we’re seeing, so far this season, underscores the reliability of political advertising directed primarily at linear television platforms,” said David Solomon, President & CEO at Viamedia. “We have robust insights into the local ad trends around the country.”

He added, “Campaigns and PACs understand the power of the big-screen format – whether linear TV, CTV or OTT -- for getting their messages across to constituents. All video providers are now managing record order inflows. Nothing beats local for candidates seeking to get their message out and for our clients to super serve this cycle’s political advertising.”

About Viamedia 

Viamedia places over 1MM ads a day in more than 130 zones in 28 states across 60+ markets nationwide, aggregating all forms of TV audiences and providing a single point of sale to more than 6,000 local, regional, and national advertisers. It provides a comprehensive portfolio of audience and impression-based local video cross-media advertising solutions that bridge the gap between linear TV and digital programmatic advertising.

Viamedia’s patented, cloud based QTT^® platform utilizes a proprietary technology stack and is designed to enable ad campaigns to be more efficient and easier to execute, by utilizing rich data to deliver targeted, dynamic ads to consumers via linear television.

Viamedia also offers a complimentary suite of impression-based digital products for streaming, mobile, display, email, search, social and more. Headquartered in Lexington, Kentucky, the company’s success is built on its people, processes and proprietary software.

The year was 2003. Arnold Schwarzenegger was elected governor of California, Apple released iTunes, everyone’s friend Tom started MySpace, and March Madness was streamed online for the first time.  The 2003 deal was between CBS and Yahoo! to stream the first 3 rounds of the tournament as part of the Yahoo! Platinum service for $16.95 a month¹. Two years later, the NCAA announced that March Madness 2006 would be streamed free of charge on NCAAsports.com².

Fast forward a mere 16 years and we now see that not only are people streaming March Madness, but the streaming viewership is beginning to eclipse those watching the tournament on TV.

During the 2021 NCAA tournament, streaming audiences reach increased by over 85% from the 2019 tournament (2020 was canceled due to Covid19). On the other side, TV reach among adults 18+ declined by 24%.³

So what does this mean for advertisers? Cue the sports analogies. The best way to win in the game is to have a full-court press when it comes to your advertising strategy. Gone are the days that you can just run an ad on TV and reach everyone at once. Combining OTT and Cable TV advertising is a slam dunk to expand your reach. A strong bench will also be crucial to reaching your audience during March Madness. Adding in things like Pre-roll, Display, and Audio will ensure that you are communicating with your customers throughout the tournament in a multitude of ways.

Liza Goldenberg
Director of Vendor Relations