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Though the trend of using digital platforms for political ads started during the 2008 election cycle, it truly gained momentum in the last few years. So much so that in 2019 alone, presidential candidates spent upwards of $105 million on digital ads, out of which more than $65 million went to Facebook (CNBC, 2020).

In 2019, US advertisers spent more than $60 billion on programmatic display advertising (e-marketer, 2019). However, with fewer than 14% of Web users reporting that they even notice display ads, a whopping $51.6B of their spend was effectively wasted.

While the Facebook network has historically worked well for advertisers, the Facebook boycott has prompted marketers to consider new options for their media planning. Both social media and display networks offer returns on a brand’s KPIs, but social display truly combines the best of both worlds to not only get the brand a better return on investment but also provide a much better experience to the end-user.

For all its promise, digital marketing remains an unfortunately siloed business. Nearly every brand invests in both social media — teams of people who agonize about what content to place and promote on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and other platforms — as well as paid media — the ads you see across the “rest of the web.”