E.W. Scripps launches political campaign marketing product

E.W. Scripps has launched MarketPredict, which it says will allow political campaigns to simulate how changes in their marketing and media buy plans will affect voters’ decisions.

The data analysis service uses predictive modeling and analysis of data sets from multiple sources to forecast campaigns’ voter conversion, update data in real time and provide omnichannel recommendations across paid, earned and owned media including television, digital, social media and campaign events.

“MarketPredict monitors the latest voter opinions and word of mouth to help campaigns and agencies understand what voters really care about,” said Eisha Armstrong, managing director for MarketPredict, in a statement. “After running successful internal pilots of the service in the 2016 elections and again in the Virginia gubernatorial race in 2017, we have seen demand for the product on a broader scale from campaigns looking to use data more strategically to win voters.”

RELATED: E.W. Scripps TV revenues down 9% as company swings to a loss in Q3

A service like MarketPredict could help drive more political advertising revenue to E.W. Scripps. Political ads tend to drive quite a bit of revenue during presidential election years and then, depending on the races happening in or near markets broadcasters serve, tend to decline sharply in years following presidential elections.

During the third quarter, E.W. Scripps’s television revenues totaled $180 million, down about 9% year-over-year as political advertising revenue plummeted to $1.7 million, compared to $26.9 million in the previous year.

E.W. Scripps unveiled the service at MediaPost Marketing Politics Conference in Washington, D.C.