Streaming TV is key to victory in 2020 election, expert says

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How Trump and Biden could gain an untapped advantage in the November elections

The new, untapped advantage in this election-cycle is streaming television, according to digital advertising expert and SteelHouse CEO Mark Douglas.

As the battle for the White House heats up between President Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden, reaching voters in an innovative medium will be the key to winning in November, according to digital advertising expert Mark Douglas.

“I think the political campaign that learns to use streaming television the most effectively as an advertising vehicle is going to have a huge advantage in the 2020 election,” Douglas told Fox News.

Douglas is president and CEO of SteelHouse, a digital display advertising platform for brands to reach their audience across smart TV, web and mobile. He explained to Fox News that innovation in reaching voters was critical to the victories of both Presidents Obama and Trump in years past.

“For President Obama, it was organic, social and micro-donations along with grassroots political campaigning both online and in-person,” said Douglas. “With President Trump, it was using paid social [media] and doing really targeted advertising with consumers. Those techniques worked in the past, but for each new election cycle you need an advantage.”

The digital expert explained that former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s failed presidential campaign illustrated that traditional television advertising is inefficient. Candidates typically broadcast their message to a designated market area (DMA), which casts a wide, wasteful net.

“Some of those people in that market are going to be voters you want to reach and some are not,” explained Douglas. “And so it costs a lot of money, as evidenced by Bloomberg, who spent over a half a billion dollars on television advertising, and ultimately it didn't work for him.”

The new, untapped advantage in this election cycle is streaming television, according to Douglas. That is because streaming television has become a targetable channel similar to how Facebook or Google target their ads. Two family members, for example, could be watching the same show on their tablets, but experience completely different ads during the show.

Douglas noted that micro-targeting of ads toward viewers leads to a much bigger bang for the political campaign’s buck because they are reaching voters who are more likely interested in their agenda.

“Think of it as every $1 that campaigns were spending on TV advertising and assume they were wasting 50 cents on that dollar broadcasting to a swath of people who didn’t care about their message,” said Douglas. “Now, being able to pay for targeted streaming ads, it's like that dollar is working like two dollars or three dollars... whichever campaign gets really good at this, I think has the potential to win the election in November."

For more on why SteelHouse CEO Mark Douglas thinks streaming television is the key to victory in 2020, watch the full interview above.

Emily DeCiccio is a reporter and video producer for Fox News Digital Originals. Tweet her @EmilyDeCiccio.