Internet ad spending among political candidates will increase 83.9 percent in 2008 from 2006, to $73 million, making it the fastest growing category, but it still represents only 1.6 percent of the total media spend, according to Leo Kivijarv, VP/research for PQ Media, which released Political Media Buying 2008: Preliminary Forecast Analysis last week.
Broadcast TV, direct mail, radio, cable TV and newspapers all have larger spends, with broadcast TV leading the way with $2.3 billion, 51.3 percent of the total spend.
The report covers all political spending and says the presidential race accounts for 37.1 percent of the total spend. Kivijarv declined to say how much the presidential candidates will spent on the Internet. “A lot is modeled on estimates and we’re not comfortable sharing the information with the media and the public,” he said.
He said the candidates are using the Internet primarily as a fund-raising vehicle, although they are beginning to run display and online video ads as well. In this election cycle, three-quarters of the Internet activity is fund-raising related, while 90 percent was so in 2006, he said. He said www.blogads.com is the most popular vehicle the candidates use to place ads at specific sites.
The main reason the Internet spend is small for political candidates is that “the Internet is more adaptable to national ad campaigns than local,” Kivijarv said. “Political campaigns have become very focused on specific DMAs and zip codes in their media buys. That’s where the net causes problems because it doesn’t focus on local ad media, except for the online presence of newspapers.”
He said ad networks are unable to offer local buys. “They’re more theme oriented than geographically oriented,” he said. “They can reach women or wine drinkers, but there are none for cities.” Meanwhile, advertisers can easily buy TV and radio ads by city.
While political candidates are using social networks like YouTube, which are running debates, the candidates haven’t been advertising there. “They haven’t transferred over to ad buying. Where do you place ads on Facebook or YouTube? Candidates are active on social networks but it’s difficult to buy ads there because they don’t know where to go to drive traffic and they don’t want to be near material that’s disturbing.”
Finally, “the guys in charge of media buying have been doing it for years, so it’s easy to buy TV, but they’re not willing to experiment,” he said. “Political campaigns have their head stuck in the sand. Younger candidates will go online more often, but long term candidates are less likely to do it.”
“Actual spending on Internet advertising will remain a relatively small share of media budgets for most campaigns,” the report concluded.
Kamala Harris Receives Chairman’s Prize At NAACP Image Awards
Former Vice President Kamala Harris stepped on the NAACP Image Awards stage Saturday night with a sobering message, calling the civil rights organization a pillar of the Black community and urging people to stay resilient and hold onto their faith during the tenure of President Donald Trump.
"While we have no illusions about what we are up against in this chapter in our American story, this chapter will be written not simply by whoever occupies the oval office nor by the wealthiest among us," Harris said after receiving the NAACP's Chairman's Award. "The American story will be written by you. Written by us. By we the people."
The 56th annual Image Awards was held at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium in the Los Angeles area.
Harris, defeated by Trump in last year's presidential election, was the first woman and the first person of color to serve as vice president. She had previously been a U.S. senator from California and the state's attorney general.
In her first major public appearance since leaving office, Harris did not reference her election loss or Trump's actions since entering the Oval Office, although Trump mocked her earlier in the day at the Conservative Political Action Conference.
Harris spoke about eternal vigilance, the price of liberty, staying alert, seeking the truth and America's future.
"Some see the flames on our horizons, the rising waters in our cities, the shadows gathering over our democracy and ask 'What do we do now?'" Harris said. "But we know exactly what to do, because we have done it before. And we will do it again. We use our power. We organize, mobilize. We educate. We advocate. Our power has never come from having an easy path."
Other winners of the Chairman's prize have included former... Read More