Ramaswamy Campaign Puts TV Ad Spending On Hold

The campaign for biotech entrepreneur and Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy said it has put an end to TV advertising weeks ahead of the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary.

A Ramaswamy spokesperson told NBC News on Tuesday that the campaign has no future TV reservations booked, opting instead for “nimble” and “hypertargeted” advertising on other platforms.

“We are focused on bringing out the voters we’ve identified — 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,” campaign press secretary Tricia McLaughlin told NBC News.

The move comes with Ramaswamy languishing in the polls. As of Tuesday, Ramaswamy had just 3.5% percent support nationally in the GOP presidential primary, ahead of only Chris Christie (3.4%), according to the FiveThirtyEight.com polling average. Ramaswamy sits at 6% in Iowa — still in fourth place — and 5.6% in New Hampshire, fifth place, also according to FiveThirtyEight.

Worse, Ramaswamy registered at 1% nationally in a new Rasmussen poll released Tuesday.

The caucuses in Iowa begin Jan. 15 and the New Hampshire primary is Jan. 23.

“As you know, 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,” McLaughlin told NBC News.

Ramaswamy unleashed a $12 million TV advertising blitz in the two states in November, according to Politico. But since then, the campaign has spent just $2.2 million across TV, digital, and radio, NBC News reported.

Further, according to NBC News, Ramaswamy’s campaign spent $6,000 on TV spending in one week compared to:

• Donald Trump: $1.1 million
• Nikki Haley: $1 million
• Ron DeSantis: $270,000
• Christie: $88,000

The PAC supporting Ramaswamy, American Exceptionalism, has not spent money on ads across any platform since October, according to NBC News.