Krista Thomas | June 29, 2026 | Blog

After the AAPC California Regional Conference, and based on everything I learned last year working on political campaigns, one thing is clear: Political marketers need straightforward guidance on how to make CTV and FAST work harder for their campaigns. 

Today’s marketers are navigating one of the most fragmented media environments in campaign history. Voters are still watching TV, but most aren’t watching it the same way. 

Many have cut the cord. Most move with ease between streaming apps, smart TV platforms, live channels, on-demand content, news, sports, lifestyle programming, and local video environments. 

Attention is spread thin across more screens, more services, and more viewing habits than ever before.

That creates a real challenge for political campaigns: How do you deliver high-impact video messaging to the right voters, in the right places, with enough scale to matter, without wasting budget or losing control of where your ads appear?

That is where Connected TV (CTV) and free ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) come in.

CTV gives political marketers the power of TV with the precision of digital advertising. FAST brings back the familiar, lean-back experience of linear TV — free, ad-supported channels watched on household TV screens — but with the flexibility, targeting, and reporting that modern advertising campaigns need.

Together, CTV and FAST give political advertisers a smarter way to reach voters where they’re already watching.

What is CTV?

CTV is TV content watched on an internet-connected device, such as a smart TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Samsung TV, LG, Vizio, gaming console, or streaming app.

This means campaigns can run high-quality video ads on the household TV screen with the same advantages of digital media, including audience targeting, geographic controls, real-time reporting, and more flexible buying.

CTV helps campaigns reach voters who are no longer reachable via cable or broadcast. It also empowers political advertisers to extend high-impact, emotional, and memorable storytelling across a modern viewing environment where audiences of all ages and demographics spend more and more of their time.

What is FAST?

FAST is free ad supported streaming TV content that viewers can watch without a subscription.

FAST feels familiar to viewers because it looks and behaves like traditional linear TV: scheduled programming, channels, natural ad breaks, news, sports, entertainment, movies, and more.

For political marketers, FAST is powerful because it combines three important advantages:

• It’s free for viewers. That helps attract large and diverse audiences.
• It’s watched on TV screens. That gives campaigns the emotional impact and credibility of TV advertising.
• It’s digitally delivered. That allows for better targeting, measurement, and campaign control than traditional TV.

How CTV and FAST Work Together

CTV is the device. FAST is the most important content on that device.  

A voter may open a smart TV app, Roku, Samsung TV Plus, Pluto TV, Tubi, Freevee, or another streaming service and watch a live-style channel, a local news stream, a sports channel, a movie channel, or a lifestyle program. 

That creates valuable opportunities for political campaigns to break through with provocative, memorable  video stories  in a TV environment with state of the art programmatic capabilities.

For political campaigns, CTV and FAST bridge the gap between traditional political TV buying and modern voter targeting.

You get all of the value of sight, sound, motion, and the household TV screen. But you gain control over geography, content, audience alignment, timing, and reporting.

Why This Matters for Political Campaigns

Political campaigns are built around urgency. Timelines are compressed. Budgets are tight. Every impression needs to work harder. Every message needs to reach the right voter before the moment passes.

CTV and FAST help political marketers solve the biggest campaign challenges:

1. Reach voters who are impossible to find on traditional TV

Cord-cutting and streaming adoption have changed the TV landscape. Voters  still watch plenty of TV, but they are watching FAST on CTV. 

2. Bring TV impact to more targeted campaigns

Traditional TV is excellent for broad awareness, but it’s difficult to control waste. CTV allows political marketers to apply more precise campaign parameters, including geography, channel, genre, device, service, app, publisher, content category, daypart, and audience persona.

That means you can use TV creative but be more precise about who sees the message and where it runs.

3. Match messages to voter context and mindset

Political messaging performs best when it reaches people in the right context. FAST and CTV environments include news, local programming, sports, lifestyle, entertainment, multicultural content, documentaries, and other content categories that can help campaigns align messaging with viewer interests and moments of attention.

A persuasion message may belong in one environment. A turnout message may belong in another. A local issue campaign may need precise geographic reach. A candidate introduction spot may need broad household awareness.

CTV and FAST give campaigns more ways to match media strategy to campaign strategy.

4. Improve transparency and reporting

Political marketers need to know where budgets are going and what they are getting in return. CTV and FAST can provide more visibility into delivery, performance, top channels, impressions, spend, device mix, service mix, and other actionable campaign insights.

That gives campaign teams more confidence while the campaign is running — not just after it ends.

5. Move quickly in a changing campaign environment

Political campaigns change fast. Messaging shifts. Opponents move. News cycles accelerate. Voter priorities evolve.

CTV and FAST buying can give political marketers more flexibility than traditional TV alone, helping campaigns respond to changing conditions, optimize delivery, and make smarter use of limited time and budget.

How OrkaTV Can Help You Win this Fall 

OrkaTV Ads is built specifically for the FAST and CTV marketplace. We help advertisers reach viewers across premium FAST channels and CTV apps with scale, quality, and transparency, with  100 percent focus on streaming TV viewership.

For political marketers, that means OrkaTV Ads simplifies a complicated streaming landscape and makes CTV and FAST easier to understand, plan, buy, and measure.

OrkaTV Ads offers:

Scale across premium FAST and CTV inventory
Reach audiences across thousands of FAST channels and CTV apps, with inventory viewed on household TV screens.

A true TV environment
No pop-ups. No skipping. Natural ad breaks. Premium content. The experience feels like TV because it is TV — delivered through streaming.

Programmatic and content targeting
Target by geography, channel, genre, device, service, app, publisher, content category, demographics, personas, daypart, and more.

Transparency from delivery to reporting
Access campaign stats while campaigns are running — in time to adapt and optimize — with wrap reports delivered quickly after campaign completion.

Audience alignment for political messaging
Reach voters across news, local, sports, lifestyle, entertainment, multicultural, Hispanic, live events, and other relevant content environments.

Direct publisher relationships
OrkaTV works directly with validated publishers and streamlines connections between supply and demand to deliver quality, efficiency, and better campaign outcomes.

The Big Win

CTV and FAST are not just “new TV,” this is a smarter way for political marketers to use the power of TV in a streaming-first world.

For campaigns that need to reach voters with impact, precision, speed, and accountability, FAST and CTV offer a powerful path forward.

OrkaTV Ads makes that path easier.

We help political marketers reach voters on household TV screens, across premium streaming environments, with the targeting, transparency, and flexibility that today’s  campaigns need.

To learn more, email erin@orka.tv