Dem
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GOP
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Kamala Harris' campaign announced on Saturday that it has already reserved $370 million worth of ads in the swing states from Labor Day to Election Day. That was to be expected.
But the real news here is that slightly over half of it will be digital. Biden was planning to advertise on TV, but Harris belongs to a generation that is much more comfortable with the online world and she is planning to spend at least $200 million of that on platforms like YouTube, Hulu, Roku, Spotify, Pandora, and Paramount. She understands, probably as well, if not better, than any previous candidate, that many people, especially younger voters, watch little, if any actual television. Instead, they use on-demand streaming services, like the ones above.
One of us, (V), has noticed that when he has his VPN set to Atlanta, GA, and he goes to YouTube for any reason, he gets either an ad for some marijuana grower or a friendly, upbeat Harris ad, with her sitting at a table smiling and speaking directly to the camera and asking for a $10 donation. The $10 is nice, but the real purpose of the ad is to collect email addresses of Georgia voters, which (V) is not. Clearly Harris sees Georgia as in play and is running digital ads there in heavy rotation. Trump is also advertising heavily in Georgia, but more on television than digital. (V)