Howdy, Digital Friends
New year, new newsletter
Welcome to this inaugural edition of Doomscroll, the newsletter that covers digital stuff on the right. Thanks for being here! Furrow those brows and keep on scrolling.
1.8.23
One Question
If Twitter really does end its ban on political ads, would you consider allocating some of your digital advertising budget to the platform? Why or why not?
Thanks to everyone who answered the One Question at the top of my intro post last month. In response to “what’s the biggest challenge facing Republican digital strategists right now?”, a lot of you said something around trust with grassroots donors and avoiding donor burnout. You have been seen, you have been heard, and you’re not alone; lots of us are riding that same struggle bus.
Who’s Doing What
Good News For Our Friends in Comms
Guess what? You don’t have to spend a lot to get some nice earned media coverage. Case in point: News “broke” towards the end of December that New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu was running ads in South Carolina and Iowa. Big deal, right? Well sure, but his total spend between December 17-23 was a mere $1,157. Do with that information what you will, but at least we know the journos will cover it!
SMS SOS
On December 26, I texted GLENN to 39626, per the instructions at the bottom of an email I received from Team Youngkin. As of this writing, I’ve yet to receive any message from the Youngkin shortcode. That’s not necessarily horrible; this is a slow time of year. Still, props to the Youngkin team for having a shortcode at all. I’m a big proponent of campaigns/candidates investing in these.
Get Those Domains
Looks like hagemanforgovernor.com, morriseyforgovernor.com, and patrickforgovernor.com have been snatched up. Is Harriet Hageman already tired of Congress? (I mean, who wouldn’t be). And is West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey planning a bid for governor - instead of joining Rep. Alex Mooney in a primary contest to unseat Sen. Joe Manchin in 2024? People are making moves - that’s all I’m saying.
Dire Warning
Speaking of SMS, I also got a message from the NRCC at the end of December warning me that my GOP supporter streak was about to end and I needed to “renew [my] 2023 House Majority Membership.” All I have to do was rush $35 or more. It still amazes me that membership cards work as a fundraising tactic, but hey - I don’t make the rules.
Some Insight IntoTrump World
In case you didn’t see last month, FEC filings for Trump Save America Joint Fundraising Committee show that the entity spent around $3.5 million on SMS fundraising texts (Direct Send & Opn Sesame), $2.5 million on email list rentals (Conservative Connector and DonorBureau), and $1.5 million on online advertising (Google, Direct Persuasion, Yahoo, Taboola, Xander, Facebook, Rumble and Jeeng). Did I miss any?? They even spent $540 on Snapchat. Oh, and that was all between 10/1 and 11/28 - the height of midterm election season. I’m also (still) getting about a million emails a day telling me that if I donate I will be entered to win a trip to Mar-a-Lago. Please make it stop.
TikTok Torture
If you’re anything like me you’ve seen dozens of articles lately hyping TikTok creative as THE SOCIAL MEDIA/MARKETING TREND OF 2023. Big question mark as to whether Republicans will or should try to tap into this trend. I’m on the fence, TBH, but here’s what I do know: it’s a lot like sleep training (sorry, it’s just the stage of life I’m in right now). What works for one family won’t necessarily work for another and shaming each other for attempting to crack the code is stupid.
FWIW 2.0: If the concern is reaching Gen Z, there are other places to do that (just saying)
Who’s Spending Where
LiveAction was the largest center-right spender on Facebook from 12/27 - 1/2, putting $70,000 behind some lead-gen and persuasion ads. Judicial Watch spent $41,000 during that same time period, while The Daily Wire spent about $38,000 on Matt Walsh’s page. Fourth and fifth place go to Newsmax ($32,000) and PragerU ($29,000).
On Google, Friends of Ron DeSantis was the largest center-right advertiser during that time. Their ads were all lead-gen. Kelly Craft for Governor also spent a nice sum promoting her announcement video and some search for her website. An advertiser called Perpetual Market Inc came in third place with a bunch of ads asking people to vote in a 2024 presidential primary poll. One variation was shown more than 10 million times and was targeted to men over 35. Interesting. Coming in 4th and 5th place were Federation for American Immigration Reform and Judicial Watch.
Industry Watch
YouTube Official Blog: …We’ve removed over 10,000 videos related to the midterms for violating our Community Guidelines, including those that violated our election integrity policy.
Takeaways + Context
Missing from this disclosure was any detail on exactly which videos and channels, or the political bent of the content that was removed. Unless it was reported elsewhere and I’ve just missed it, I haven’t seen that level of transparency from Youtube…which would be nice.
Axios: YouTube Beats out Amazon and Apple for NFL Sunday Ticket
…The acquisition of Sunday Ticket represents the most significant push into live sports for the online video giant…Sunday Ticket will be available as an add-on for YouTube TV as well as a standalone purchase on YouTube Primetime Channels.
Takeaways + Context
Per Nielsen, streaming hit another milestone in November 2022, accounting for 38% of all TV viewing for the month. If you’re reading this, you’re probably not surprised by that stat. You probably were also on the receiving end of some HEAVY YouTube TV pushes from your Google sales reps last cycle (<3 you!). In any case, I’m a big believer in the idea that digital strategists should play a role in controlling advertising spend on streaming platforms. Why should TV buyers get all the fun?
Policy Watch
NBC News: Congress is cracking down on TikTok
The Grapevine
Back in December, RBI PAC (The Republican Congressional Baseball Team Political Action Committee) hosted its first annual "Moneyball" fundraising event. There, a right-of-center tech innovator (who shall remain nameless for now) unveiled a new fundraising platform for GOP campaigns. Details TBD, but see photo below with Majority Whip Steve Scalise.
Targeted Victory just laid off a sh** ton of staffers. Leadership is explaining it as normal, end-of-cycle scaling back. A friend of mine summarized it this way: “it’s hard to maintain a staff size of 400+”. Indeed. Hugs to all my TV friends!
Word on the street is that Nikki Haley World is actively staffing up in Charleston, S.C.
Caroline Tarwid has been promoted to Deputy Digital Director at the NRSC, where she’ll work with Mike Alm. Damian Arias has also been named NRSC Email Director. Congrats to both!
Last But Not Least
From the other side of the aisle:
Ew, No.
From the other side of the tracks:
Chuckled when I saw this lead-gen form. Would love to see a campaign do something like “Convince people you actually want a Republican majority in the Senate” (or something).
That’s all for this week. Did you enjoy the Doomscroll experience? Then please forward this to a friend and tell them to subscribe.
Got a tip you’d like to share for The Grapevine? Send it to me at itsthedoomscroll@gmail.com. Feel free to send other thoughts as well. Yes you can stay anonymous. ;)