• by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_research, October 5, 2004

Internet Not Benefiting From Presidential Advertising

Michael Cornfield, in a memo for the Pew Internet & American Life Project, observes that "The presidential campaigns... have virtually ignored the internet as an advertising medium, according to the first-ever systematic study of online political ads."

In the memo, he notes that:

- The campaigns have spent more than $100 on television ads for every dollar they have spent on web ads. ($330 million on TV between January and August, 2004.

- The Kerry campaign has outspent the Bush campaign on the Internet by a 3:1 margin: $1.3 million to $419,000 during this period.

- The Republican National Committee spent $487,000

- The Democratic National Committee spent $257,000

- All Advocacy groups have spent $184,000 on the Web, with by the MoveOn.org Voter Fund spending $104,000 and nothing by Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.

Cornfield says "... political advertising on the internet has adhered to mass media standards of political discourse: a few remarks taken out of context, but no obscenity, graphic violence, or manifest smears and lies." And he concludes that " ....while presidential campaigns have stepped up their online fund-raising, voter-profiling, and insider communicating this year, they have not ventured aggressively into online advertising. This is somewhat surprising because online ads can reach new, undecided, and wavering voters in the demographic and geographic niches where they are thought to reside."

You can find out more here.