Campaigns Unlikely To Fully Embrace Web In '08
- by Gavin O'Malley @mp_gavin, December 5, 2007
"It just hasn't made the leap yet," Tracey said Tuesday during the UBS 35th Annual Global Media and Communications conference.
TNS is estimating $3 billion in political ad spending next year. But election campaigns, according to Tracey, "don't find (online) to be an effective messaging tool for undecided voters late in the race, which is when most of the money is spent on media."
Also, many strategists still consider Web advertising to be unruly and error-prone--a perception reinforced this summer when banner ads for the Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney mistakenly wound up on Gay.com, Tracey said.
Campaigns have embraced the Web on the cheap by uploading profiles, communiqués and related footage to popular sites like YouTube and MySpace, he said.
In addition, the Web is fully embraced by nearly every campaign as a fund-raising tool. But, in Tracey's estimation, the only substantial money being spent online today hinges on advocacy groups, who spend most of their funds on local political blogs.
Advocacy is, however, a growth industry, according to Tracey, who described the country as being in a state of "permanent campaigning."
Seeing an opportunity to capture what little market share does exist, online publishers are increasingly experimenting with political fare.
In October, a year after resigning as CEO of CNET Networks, Shelby Bonnie reemerged with the launch of an online hub for American politics. The site, Political Base, aspires to be a nonpartisan resource for voters seeking more information on candidates, issues, voting records and fund-raising as well as national and local elections.
Overall, TNS is predicting that more money will be spent online in 2008 than in 2004, "but that's just a case of more money being spent on politics in general," Tracey said.
