Overview

• Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy has stopped running television ads in Iowa and New Hampshire, key early contest states, and has criticized presidential TV ad spending as 'idiotic'.
• Ramaswamy's campaign has redirected funds from TV ads to more targeted voter outreach initiatives, including addressable advertising, mail, text messages, and door-knocking.
• The campaign's new strategy is based on their internal data suggesting that Ramaswamy's voters are not traditional broadcast television consumers.
• Ramaswamy's campaign has spent over $1.8 million on advertising in Iowa and over $1.3 million in New Hampshire so far, with much of the money coming from the candidate's personal funds.
• The decision to halt TV ads comes less than 30 days before the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary, where Ramaswamy is currently trailing his opponents in the polls.