Shift to Online Media Inevitable for Political Candidates

AdWeek reports
that the upcoming presidential race will cause political ad spend to reach
$3.03 billion during the 2008 election cycle. Although broadcast TV still
weighs in as the biggest channel, with 51.3 percent of the total, there will be a noticable shift
away from TV, into more targeted methods like PR, promotions, event
marketing and the Internet. In fact, the PQ Media study
predicted that Internet ad spending will show the fastest growth during the
2008 campaign, with an estimated 84 percent increase from 2006.

But wait. Maybe we’re not quite ready for the revolution. Diane
Mermigas of Mediapost opines:

Despite
consumers’ rapid adoption of specific interactive platforms and devices,
politicians and advertisers are still learning how to make the most of micro
targeting and rallying the forces on the Net. While a handful of presidential
hopefuls aggressively peddle their platforms online, most campaigning still
happens face-to-face, on the road or on television.

And they’re
still sort of waiting for it to get easier – or at least proven effective. Going beyond YouTube and political blogs and forums is going to be essential. Until the Internet becomes more of a messaging tool, “candidates will be a little gun shy to push a
bunch of money out to the Web,” said Evan Tracey, founder and COO of Campaign
Media Analysis Group.

Another problem
is we can’t measure year by year, especially considering that this year is such
a free-for-all, with such a large number of candidates. Jason Chervokas of
Social Media Club wrote
last spring of the boon in broadcast ads, “…my guess is that it will be the
last of these such national election cycles. A comparison of the online
political ad spend vs. TV in 2008 and 2012 will tell the tale.”

The clock is ticking…

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