SAN FRANCISCO & WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--SAY Media, in partnership with digital political media consultancies Chong & Koster and Targeted Victory and pollsters Neil Newhouse of Public Opinion Strategies and Thomas Eldon of SEA Polling and Strategic Direct, today announced new research designed to understand how electoral and advocacy campaigns can effectively reach voters in the upcoming election. Findings from the study show that despite the over $3 billion of broadcast television ad spend estimated for the 2012 political season, online streaming and mobile and time-shifted viewing have empowered voters to control their programming and ad consumption experiences in ways that significantly reduce the effectiveness of broadcast ad dollars.
Key Findings
- Voters Skip Ads: Almost 40 percent of all voters have a DVR at home and when they’re watching TV they aren’t watching commercials. Nearly 90 percent are skipping ads regularly when watching time-shifted television.
- Voters Consume Video in Nontraditional Ways: Today’s voters rely on a variety of sources for video content. Roughly one-third have not watched live TV in the past week, and 43 percent count something other than live TV as their primary way of consuming video content.
- The Next Generation of Voters are Consuming Less Live TV: Thirty-six percent of younger voters are less likely to consume live TV than they were a year ago, and more likely to consume online, time-shifted and mobile video content. This generation of voters will continue to move away from live viewing and will become increasingly difficult to reach through traditional media.
- National Trends Made Up of Local Trends: While the study shows that 31 percent of the national audience has not watched live TV in the last week, that number rose to 38 percent in Ohio. This strongly suggests that migration away from live TV is a national trend and not simply limited to states on the coasts.
Supporting Quotes
“The reality that we may not be able to reach 1 out of every 3 likely
voters in the 2012 election is a big wakeup call and shows the challenge
that both parties have in getting their message out. This is going to
require political campaigns to rethink their voter contact plans and
begin to add another layer to their targeting that focuses on the best
available medium to contact each voter.”
- Michael Beach,
founder and partner, Targeted Victory
“You simply cannot assume in the last two weeks of a campaign that you
will be able to respond to an attack or drive a message when the data
shows nearly 2 out of 5 voters will never be exposed to your message
because they have not watched live television in the past week.”
-
Thomas Eldon, president, SEA Polling
"People think only the young, urban types are exhibiting this behavior.
But what we saw is it isn't about young or old or democrats,
republicans, independents- it's about Americans."
- Josh
Koster, managing partner, Chong & Koster
“The data shows pretty clearly that how voters watch video programming
is dramatically changing and reinforces the need for political campaigns
to better match their communications outreach efforts to the voters’
changing media habits.”
- Neil Newhouse, partner and
co-founder, Public Opinion Strategies
“It’s really important to get political advertising right. When you’re
not watching TV it’s less likely that you will be influenced by the
message of the day which is key for political media specialists. To
succeed in the next election cycle and maximize reach among the
dwindling supply of swayable voters who will decide outcomes, political
campaigns must leave as few voters out of their planning as possible by
taking advantage of other media channels as a way to reach voters.”
-
Matt Rosenberg, vice president, solutions, SAY Media
Methodology
SAY Media conducted a bipartisan study, co-authored by two digital media consultancies and two well-know political pollsters: Targeted Victory and Neil Newhouse of Public Opinion Strategies on the Republican side, and Chong & Koster and Thomas Eldon of SEA Polling and Strategic Design on the Democratic side. Team members designed and fielded a national telephone survey among 800 likely voters. Furthermore, they surveyed an additional 300 likely voters in Ohio and Florida to understand how media trends impacted voters in key battleground states.
About SAY Media
SAY Media is a global media company that helps passionate, independent content creators publish, build an audience, and earn a living. The company delivers publishing technology and media services to influential creators and passion-based communities across key consumer interest areas such as style, home, food and tech. With expertise in social publishing, distribution and authentic digital marketing, SAY Media enables today’s leading online voices and top consumer brands to engage with more than 400 million people around the world. The company is headquartered in San Francisco, with offices across North America, in the UK and Australia. For more information visit www.saymedia.com.
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