• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, November 9, 2016

For the next presidential election, one will need a new measurement -- bigger data -- an index of how much ‘anger,’ ‘controversy’ and ‘drama’ sells on TV. And maybe another index projection about the media.

Polls, you say? Hmmm.

TV content loves big loaded words because it pulls in viewers and makes for crazy levels of engagement. Good news this time around: Big TV viewership should run wild around these ideas -- with a tangential effect of big election turnout.

Better still, take Donald Trump -- who never looked to curry favor with the media. Instead, he pulled and pushed. Then he attacked it, befriended it, cajoled it, only to make it the enemy again. Rinse, spin, and repeat.

Your favorite TV drama story arc can’t do it better. Voters look to their wallets for sure. But they just love their TV -- with great content. And big messages.

Candidates can contradict themselves even against actual video to the contrary. But no apologies -- especially if it your TV persona is about being ‘honest’, “fresh” and “different.”

So talk more about this stuff: “building a wall,” “draining the swamp” and ‘They're bringing crime; they're rapists."  Great dialogue. Now wait for the some action behind those words.

Master brand-selling now comes with new words when it comes to political campaigns.  Translation: Bigger TV advertising dollars.

Trump still believes the advertising money from all those early TV debates was all about his appearances -- and he should have a say of where that money goes.

What should the media do? You say “rigged,” The media might say “lie.”  But what happens for the next big election becomes difficult. Want to believe those polls again?

We need even more data and analysis. On Election Day, on a financial news network, one TV commercial said we are “drowning in information.”.We need an even bigger ocean -- not only for more data but many more facts.  And life rafts.