Vivek Ramaswamy campaign stops ads on 'idiotic, low-ROI' TV to focus on reaching specific voters ahead of primaries

Vivek Ramaswamy has suspended all television advertising as his campaign shifts its focus to targeting specific groups of potential supporters ahead of the Iowa caucus and New Hampshire primary.

The Republican presidential candidate defended his decision by suggesting it was "idiotic" to keep spending money trying to reach voters via what by this point has become an outdated medium for many.

 

"Presidential TV ad spending is idiotic, low-ROI & a trick that political consultants use to bamboozle candidates who suffer from low IQ," Ramaswamy wrote in a post on X when the news broke.

"We're doing it differently. Spending $$ in a way that follows data…apparently a crazy idea in US politics."

Campaign press secretary Tricia McLaughlin echoed the candidate's sentiments in a statement to NBC News, telling the outlet they were "focused on bringing out the voters we've identified," and that the "best way to reach them is using addressable advertising, mail, text, live calls and doors to communicate with our voters on Vivek’s vision for America, making their plan to caucus and turning them out."

"As you know," she added, "this isn't what most campaigns look like. We have intentionally structured this way so that we have the ability to be nimble and hypertargeted in our ad spending."

According to NBC News, Ramaswamy has already spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on television advertising, though the numbers have been decreasing as of late. During the week that ended on Christmas Eve, for example, his campaign only bought $6,000 worth of ad time on television stations.

During that same week, Chris Christie's campaign spent $88,000 on television ads, DeSantis' spent $270,000, and Nikki Haley's shelled out $1 million. Donald Trump led the pack with $1.1 million spent.

Super PACs backing Ramaswamy's competitors have also spent hundreds of thousands, and in some cases millions, on ads, while the American Exceptionalism PAC, which has thrown its support behind him, hasn't dropped a cent since October.