How Winning Campaigns Use CTV OOH to Connect with Unreachable Voters

Connected TV has become a core channel for political advertising. But the same premium video experience is now appearing in places voters spend time every day: restaurants, bars, gyms, salons, retail stores, medical waiting rooms, and more.
This is CTV Out of Home (CTV OOH) — TV-quality video delivered across real-world environments.
Through VideoElephant’s CTV Connect supply, campaigns can reach voters across approximately 200,000 screens in all 210 U.S. DMAs, with targeting based on:

• Geography (national, state, DMA, or custom zones)
• Venue type (retail, dining, healthcare, fitness, etc.)
• On-screen content context
• Or a combination of all three

The result is a highly targeted, brand-safe video environment, often with far less competitive noise than traditional channels.

To better understand how political advertisers are using CTV OOH, we analyzed activity running on VideoElephant’s CTV Connect supply during the four weeks leading up to Election Day.
During that period:

• 37 unique political campaigns ran CTV OOH campaigns
• Campaign types included gubernatorial, mayoral, local races, ballot initiatives, advocacy efforts, and GOTV programs

We then narrowed our focus to competitive races — campaigns that would clearly result in a winner or a loser on Election Day.
That’s where the findings became especially interesting.

Across this competitive subset, winning campaigns consistently showed stronger engagement with the CTV OOH channel.
1. They started earlier
Winning campaigns began their pre-Election Day ramp-up sooner than losing campaigns, establishing presence and frequency earlier in the cycle.

2. They delivered significantly more reach
Winning campaigns delivered 194% more impressions via CTV OOH than losing campaigns during the same four-week window.
This suggests a more intentional commitment to the channel, rather than a test-and-learn approach.

3. They faced little to no competitive messaging
Perhaps the most striking insight: 91% of winning campaigns did not face competitive ads within the CTV OOH environments analyzed.

These campaigns reached voters:

• Without opponent messaging in the same placements
• Without cluttered ad pods
• Without the fatigue that often accompanies late-cycle media

Instead, voters encountered campaign messages while grocery shopping, grabbing a meal, waiting for appointments, or going about their daily routines — moments where attention is often higher and distractions are fewer.
 

It’s important to be clear: this data does not claim causation.
Campaign outcomes are shaped by many variables — message quality, ground game, funding levels, timing, and broader political dynamics all play a role. What this analysis shows is correlation, not proof that CTV OOH alone drives electoral wins.
That said, the findings surprised us.

The fact that winning campaigns:

• Entered the channel earlier
• Delivered substantially more impressions
• And encountered virtually no competitive messaging

suggests that CTV OOH may be an underutilized opportunity — particularly in an environment where voter attention is increasingly difficult to secure.

Recent research suggests a growing share of persuadable voters are harder to reach through linear TV and traditional CTV alone. Yet those same voters still:

• Buy gas
• Shop for groceries
• Dine out
• Visit gyms and salons
• Sit in waiting rooms

CTV OOH creates an opportunity to reach voters in these “third spaces,” extending premium video into environments where political advertising has historically been limited.

As early 2026 planning gets underway, campaigns face a key strategic question:
If voters are already being reached in these real-world environments, who will be speaking to them there — your campaign or your opponent?
For campaigns looking to expand reach, reduce competition, and complement existing CTV strategies, CTV OOH is quickly becoming less experimental, and more strategic.