Democratic campaign groups team up for Latino outreach push on YouTube

A top Latino voter outreach network and the largest Democratic super PAC are teaming up on a six-figure bilingual ad campaign that's airing exclusively on YouTube.

Somos PAC and Priorities USA Action are narrowing their focus to the online video platform, which disproportionately attracts Hispanic audiences.

“YouTube is the next battleground when it comes to reaching voters who will be key to reelecting President Joe Biden: hardworking Latinos,” said Melissa Morales, founder and president of Somos PAC. 

The campaign will run on YouTube in key battleground states: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

The ad is targeted at working-class Latinos, touting President Biden's efforts to limit the price of insulin, a popular measure among many Hispanics.

The choice of platform is also a product of what's popular among Hispanics.

A recent report by Equis Research found that Latinos largely eschew traditional TV programming as a news source, though older Hispanics rely on newscasts in Spanish.

But the use of YouTube is off the charts: Hispanics spend twice as much time on the platform as the general population, according to the report.

And the YouTube crowd skews younger — older Hispanics consume more information on Facebook — giving political campaigns access to a growing and hard-to-reach population of new voters.

“Turning out and persuading Latino audiences will be crucial to reelecting Joe Biden, and if we can better understand how to effectively target them we’ll be in much better shape to do so. That is the goal of this partnership, and we’re excited to see the results,” said Nick Ahamed, deputy executive director of Priorities USA Action. 

Campaigns on both sides of the aisle are gearing up their Latino outreach to talk about the economy, an issue that has historically been the top priority for Hispanics.

But that message has been hard to get to new voters with shifting media consumption habits.

"That is why we are once again partnering with Priorities USA Action to not only continue our efforts to engage Latino voters but to more effectively use a platform that is increasingly becoming a major source of information for members of our community," said Morales.

"Latinos are keeping our economy going and need to hear more about what President Biden has done to make life more affordable for working people like us.”