With the 2024 election cycle behind us and midterms looming on the horizon, one thing is clear: campaigns that lean into digital-first political advertising strategies are better positioned to adapt, engage, and win. The shift isn’t just about adopting new tools—it’s about rethinking how campaigns plan, prioritize, and engage with voters in a media landscape that’s constantly in motion. Voter attention is increasingly fragmented, media consumption is no longer linear, and the window for persuasion is narrower than ever.

As MSNBC host Chris Hayes notes in his new book, The Sirens Call: Attention and the Endangered Mind, attention is not just a personal resource but a civic one—essential for democracy, and under siege from an increasingly manipulative media and tech ecosystem. His insights offer a sobering reminder to campaigners: grabbing attention isn’t enough; we must also consider how we’re shaping it. In an era where every second counts, campaigns that respect attention as a scarce resource—and work to earn it authentically—will be the ones that break through.

Findings from a report we commissioned with Global Strategy Group after the 2024 election emphasized the importance of making a concerted effort to reach voters where they are – to earn their attention by using messages that resonate deeply with their concerns. The data was clear: streaming platforms have overtaken traditional TV across nearly every key demographic. Seventy-one percent of voters report weekly use of paid streaming services, and 56% use free ad-supported apps. Among swing voters, streaming now rivals or surpasses linear TV in both reach and influence. 

Campaigns that fail to adapt to this reality risk falling behind—not just in technology, but in relevance. Winning campaigns will prioritize reaching this emerging streaming majority and connecting with them authentically to secure their support.

Message to Momentum: Why Infrastructure Matters

At DSPolitical, we’ve seen firsthand how campaigns of all sizes are navigating these shifts. Our Deploy and DemocraticAds.com platforms are packed with tools and features designed to help them act fast, stay on-message, and engage the right audiences without missing a beat. Jo Fenster of Aisle 518 recently underscored this point, noting,  “The Deploy Media Planner reduced the time it took to get campaigns live, and the pre-built audiences were a game-changer.”

In a world where the attention economy dictates outcomes, infrastructure is no longer a back-office concern—it’s central to campaign success. As Hayes points out, attention is a finite civic resource. Campaigns that lack the systems to act quickly and meaningfully risk not just falling behind, but disappearing entirely in a crowded media ecosystem.

In an environment where information moves in fractions of a second, the campaigns that succeed are those built for speed and agility. That doesn’t mean chasing every headline—it means having the systems in place to respond when it matters most.

Strategic digital readiness in 2025 and beyond means modular messaging frameworks, clear audience hierarchies, and the ability to quickly launch and manage digital advertising campaigns to reach persuadable voters at scale using powerful tools like Deploy. Campaigns must capture attention, but they also must hold it and shape it ethically and systematically. The most effective teams won’t just react, they’ll anticipate, adapt, and act with speed and precision.

Earning and Sustaining Attention

The strongest campaigns in 2025, 2026, and beyond will blend two essential approaches: always-on digital advertising to maintain consistent visibility and relevance, and real-time flexibility to adjust media plans as news breaks, narratives shift, and voter priorities evolve.

This is where DSPolitical helps campaigns most—ensuring that media is deployed quickly, precisely, and with the flexibility to meet the moment without compromising long-term message discipline. After the 2024 election, Theo Groh from Wheelhouse Web Solutions vouched for our approach, saying, “The Deploy Media Planner was incredibly valuable for running late-money scenarios, and the platform’s targeting capabilities helped ensure we reached the right audiences at the right frequency.” 

In a media environment shaped by algorithms, creators, and 24/7 commentary, campaigns must be able to act with both consistency and speed. They must also understand that attention is not passively given—it must be earned, respected, and sustained. What emerges is a more disciplined, iterative model of campaigning—where digital ads are tested, optimized, and redeployed across channels in hours, not days.

Reclaiming the Streaming Majority

One of the clearest takeaways from 2024 is that streaming platforms aren’t just entertainment venues—they’re information ecosystems. Voters aren’t tuning into one trusted news source; they’re piecing together perspectives across YouTube, podcasts, social media, and CTV. Check out our webinar, Winning the Streaming Majority, for more data about how and where voters are getting their news. 

Political strategists must strategize accordingly. Where are persuadable voters spending their time? What formats are driving engagement? How can campaigns deliver messages that are both culturally relevant and grounded in policy?

Hayes argues that reclaiming voter attention is about giving people something worth paying attention to—something real. That’s the challenge in streaming environments: creating content that doesn’t just get seen, but gets remembered because it matters to the viewer.

Future-proofing isn’t about more ads—it’s about more intentional ones, delivered in the right place, at the right time, to the right people.

Respect Voters: Build Beyond the Cycle

The shift to digital-first campaigning isn’t seasonal, and it’s not about novelty. It’s about setting up durable infrastructure that can scale, adapt, and endure. Campaigns that want to stay competitive in 2025 and beyond should treat digital not as a channel, but as a foundation.

That means investment in:

• Data fluency and access to clean, regularly updated voter files to ensure accurate targeting and reduce waste
• Partnerships with platforms and providers that prioritize high-quality inventory and enable rapid, targeted media execution
• Cross-platform measurement tools that allow campaigns to evaluate performance, optimize spend, and track impact across digital channels
• Workflows that support real-time decision-making, rapid approvals, and campaign agility in fast-moving media environments

Building these systems is ultimately about respecting the voter—recognizing their time is valuable, their media landscape is complex, and their trust must be earned. The campaigns that build this way won’t just be better at ads—they’ll win more campaigns.

Final Thought

Digital strategy isn’t one-size-fits-all, but the fundamentals are clear. From voter-file targeting to premium CTV inventory, DSPolitical builds tools and partnerships that let Democratic campaigns compete—and win—on their terms.

Digital-first isn’t a buzzword. It’s a strategic imperative. In the fragmented, attention-scarce world that Hayes describes (and which we all inhabit), campaigns must cut through the noise with clarity, credibility, and urgency. As voters evolve, so must the campaigns that seek to reach them. The lessons of 2024 are clear: build for speed, plan for nuance, and meet people where they are—online, in real-time, and on their terms.