Komatireddy’s 2024 Video Ads: $8.50 Cost Per Conversion

Saritha Komatireddy’s Public Safety Video Ads: A Deep Dive into Campaign Strategy

In Saritha Komatireddy’s 2024 run for the 14th Congressional District, her campaign’s use of political video ads for public safety messaging became a core part of its campaign strategy. The team had to turn complex policy into short, powerful videos that would actually land with a mix of suburban and rural voters. They needed a way to cut through the usual political noise on an issue everyone was talking about.

Campaign Overview: Addressing Public Safety Concerns

Komatireddy’s team saw that public safety was the dominant issue for voters across the 14th District, from North Fulton County out to Dawson and Forsyth counties. This wasn’t a guess. Their own internal polling showed crime and community security were top of mind. They decided to lean heavily on a video ad strategy, knowing that video would hit harder and feel more personal on an issue like this than a simple mailer or text ad could. Out of a $150,000 digital budget dedicated to the public safety message, a full 60% was poured into video content during the eight-week run-up to the primary.

Strategy and Targeting: Precision Beyond Demographics

Komatireddy’s video ad strategy was all about precision. The campaign went way beyond basic demographics, building layered audiences for its public safety ads. They started with homeowners aged 45 and up, with household incomes over $75,000, who lived in zones with reported upticks in property crime. Then they added another layer: parents with kids in school, using public school enrollment data to find them. Geo-fencing was a big part of this, serving ads to phones within a half-mile of community centers, suburban shopping areas, and even the parking lots of police stations in cities like Alpharetta and Cumming. The whole point was to get the message in front of people right where they were living their lives and thinking about these issues.

The money was split between Meta’s network (Facebook and Instagram) and Google’s YouTube, at a 70/30 ratio. They picked these platforms because they could get incredibly granular with targeting and because most people in the district were on them. For example, on YouTube, they built custom intent audiences based on what people were searching for, like “local crime news” or “community watch programs”, a smart tactic that’s surprisingly effective for issue-based ads. According to a 2023 IAB Digital Video Ad Spend Report, this shift to platforms with better audience segmentation is a trend more political advertisers are finally catching on to, and Komatireddy’s team was right there with it.

Creative Approach: Authenticity Over Polish

Their creative approach was simple: authenticity beats polish. They started by testing two very different styles. One was a standard, studio-shot ad with Komatireddy talking to the camera about her policies. The other was a series of testimonials from local cops, community leaders, and regular residents, all filmed on location in their own neighborhoods. These testimonial ads used a lot of b-roll of local parks and quiet streets, trying to create a feeling of a shared community that needed protecting. One of the most effective ads they ran featured a retired police chief from Johns Creek who talked about the real challenges police face and endorsed Komatireddy’s plan for more funding and community policing.

In total, they produced 12 different video ads. The lengths were all over the place, from 15-second quick hits up to 60-second deep dives. Shorter ads worked best for initial awareness and for retargeting, while the longer videos gave them space to explain policy details, like her plan to boost mental health support for first responders. Every video had a clear CTA, like “Visit SarithaForCongress.com to learn more” or “Sign up for updates on public safety.”

Performance Metrics: What Worked

Over the eight-week flight, the campaign’s video ads pulled in 1.8 million impressions and reached about 180,000 unique people in the district. The overall Click-Through Rate (CTR) for the video ads hit 1.9%, a bit better than the 1.5% benchmark their internal data showed for political video in the 2024 cycle. The Cost Per Lead (CPL), which they defined as a simple email signup, came in at an average of $9.25.

But the real story was in the creative breakdown. The testimonial-style videos with local faces blew the studio ads out of the water, pulling an average CTR of 2.3% compared to just 1.5% for the polished content. The data was clear: voters wanted genuine, community-driven messages. The Return on Ad Spend (ROAS), which they calculated based on direct donations from ad clicks, was 1.2x. For every dollar they spent, they got $1.20 back in donations. A 1.2x ROAS isn’t going to set the world on fire, but for a political campaign it’s a solid number, especially since it doesn’t account for the value of volunteer sign-ups or higher turnout.

Their retargeting strategy was also really effective. They created a custom audience of anyone who watched 75% or more of a public safety video, and then hit that group with ads asking for donations or volunteers. This highly engaged group converted at a much cheaper rate, with a Cost Per Conversion of just $8.50, a nice drop from the $10.00 it cost for the broader audience. This approach connects you with people already bought into your message and makes your budget go further.

Challenges and Optimizations: Learning on the Fly

Of course, not everything worked perfectly at first. The early studio-produced ads looked good, but test audiences found them too generic. Focus groups said they wanted to hear about local issues and see specific solutions for their towns. So the campaign quickly changed gears, shifting production to focus almost entirely on interviews with residents and local officials. “We initially thought a professional look would signal seriousness,” the campaign’s digital director said later, “but voters in the 14th District wanted to see themselves and their neighbors reflected in the messaging.”

They also had to fine-tune the ad lengths as they went. They started with mostly 30-second spots, which were fine. But the data showed that 15-second “bumper” ads on YouTube were fantastic for just getting the name out there, getting a 0.8% higher view-through rate (VTR). At the same time, the 60-second ads proved necessary for explaining tougher policy ideas, like the specifics of a legislative proposal for tackling the opioid crisis in the district’s rural areas. The team ended up adjusting their buys to use a mix of lengths, matching the ad format to where a voter was in their decision-making process, short ads to introduce the problem, longer ones to explain the solution.

The budget was a constant headache. The testimonial videos were clear winners, but producing them on the fly got expensive. This forced the campaign into a classic balancing act: they wanted more of the high-performing, authentic content, but they only had so much money. That meant making tough calls about which ads to push wide, knowing the best-performing creative wasn’t always the cheapest to scale. But having the data at least meant they were making informed decisions, getting the most impactful ads in front of the right people, even with a tight budget.

The Lasting Impact

Saritha Komatireddy’s work on public safety video ads is a good look at how a data-driven campaign strategy works in the real world. By ditching polished ads for authentic stories, targeting with incredible precision, and constantly tweaking their approach based on hard numbers, her team built a narrative around local faces and local concerns that actually connected with voters. It’s proof that a smart video advertising plan, even on a moderate budget, can have a real effect on how voters see a candidate.