Obama, Romney Find Political Power In Online Ads
The U.S. presidential candidates put a heavy focus on display, social and search ads during the first half of 2012. President Barack Obama spent $4.6 million on display
advertising to get reelected -- taking 87% share of impressions, compared with Governor Mitt Romney at about $300,000, according to comScore's State of the Internet in the U.S. 2012 address released
Wednesday.
While display advertising sends clear messages on direction, social media gives the candidates a method to connect more closely with voters. Romney's Web traffic leading to his Web site made up about 15% of Obama's 3.4 million, estimates comScore.
The candidates' social media strategy as of June finds Obama with 27.9 million Fans on Facebook, compared with Romney's 4.7 million Fans -- but the frequency of ad impressions tells a different tale with 3.6 and 5.6, respectively. Obama has 80.5 million earned media impressions, while Romney has 41.6 million.
On Facebook, Obama tends to attract a younger 18-24 age demographic; Romney, ages 45-plus. comScore said 26% of site traffic to mittromney.com comes from Facebook, but it accounts for a smaller audience compared with Obama, who took out ads in Electronic Arts' online games to reach a younger voters.
Similar to display advertising, Obama leads in the share of paid-search ads and clicks, but doesn't seem as effective, according to comScore. While Obama leads in shares of paid search impressions, Romney's creativity to run a paid-search ad promoting a dining experience with he and wife Ann drove up clicks, especially in May.
Obama draws more people to barackobama.com via smartphones compared with Romney -- about 1.08 million vs. 171,000, according to comScore. However, Romney seems to attract voters making an annual income of $100,000 or more.
Political sites and blogs also have begun to influence decisions, as a trend toward more video views picks up, according to comScore. DrudgeReport.com attracts 31% Democrats, 28% Republican and 40% Independents, according to July 2012 comScore.
Recent Online Media Daily Articles
-
Network Advertising Initiative Proposes New Mobile Privacy Rules May 22, 9:03 p.m.
Moving forward with its plan to issue mobile privacy rules, the self-regulatory group Network Advertising Initiative ... -
Entertainment, Travel Bet On Mobile Banners May 22, 4:16 p.m.
Banner ads have long been the whipping boy of online advertising, and the same is now ... -
Marketers Should Tailor Specific Pitches To Tablet, Smartphone May 22, 2:51 p.m.
Don’t lump tablets in with mobile. That’s the takeaway of a new Forrester study looking at ... -
Good TV Content Trumps On, Whether Trad TV Or Streaming May 22, 2:42 p.m.
While consumers continue to perceive TV programming as superior in quality to that of online fare, ... -
Google Releases Self-Serve Display Benchmark Tool May 22, 2:02 p.m.
Understanding how a brand's online campaign competes with competitors requires trending benchmark data like engagement rates ... -
Twitter Brings Lead Generation To Tweets May 22, 1:14 p.m.
Twitter began testing a lead generation tool Wednesday in its tweet stream that resembles a cross ... -
DigitasLBi, Razorfish Tap Execs For Global Ops May 22, 11:26 a.m.
Publicis Groupe digital agencies DigitasLBi and Razorfish have installed new executives to run their respective international ... -
More Consumers Turn To Mobile To Research, Book Travel May 22, 8:53 a.m.
More than half of consumers used a mobile device to book travel in the last 90 ... -
Showrooming Overhyped, Mobile Key To Shopping Purchases May 22, 8:53 a.m.
Given consumers' mobile in-store shopping trends, some consider the showrooming hoopla overblown. The research process still ... -
Shopping App Swirl Adds In-Store Capability May 22, 8:53 a.m.
Swirl entered the mobile shopping fray last year with an iPhone app allowing users to learn ...
2 comments on "Obama, Romney Find Political Power In Online Ads".
Leave a Comment