Download the White Paper

Research Abstract: Voters off the grid

Voters aren't watching your television ads

With more than one in three voters opting out of live TV,

politicians must adjust their campaigns to effectively reach voters.

Overview

Television’s ability to quickly reach large groups of people has made it the workhorse of political advertising for the last 50 years. The 2012 political season is likely to see spending on broadcast television advertising in excess of $3 billion. But while the spending trend continues to rise, advances in technology like DVRs, online streaming and mobile viewing have empowered the audience to control both their programming and ad consumption experiences in ways that reduce the effectiveness of these TV ad dollars.

Likely to Skip Ads

Almost 40% of all voters have a DVR at home. And when they’re watching TV this way, they aren’t watching commercials. Nearly 90% are skipping ads regularly when watching time-shifted programming.

The Next Generation

Younger voters are more likely to consume less live TV than they did a year ago, while increasing viewing of online, time-shifted, and mobile video. This generation of voters will continue to move away from live viewing and will become increasingly more difficult to reach through traditional media.

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 / Public Opinion Strategies

The last two weeks of a campaign are the most important. You can no longer assume that in this critical time period you will be able to drive a message via television advertising when the data shows that nearly 2 out of 5 voters will NOT have watched live TV in the past week.

Thomas Eldon / SEA Polling

Engage users who opt-out of your TV commercials with ads they can opt-in to PROPRIETARY TO SAY MEDIA. Find out more.

Methodology

SAY Media conducted a bi-partisan study, co-authored by two digital media consultancies and two well-known political pollsters, representing both the right and left sides of the political spectrum. Targeted Victory and Neil Newhouse of Public Opinion Strategies represented the Republican side, and Chong & Koster and Thomas Eldon of SEA Polling represented the Democratic side. To best understand how the changing media landscape may impact a campaign’s ability to effectively and efficiently reach voters in the upcoming election, the team 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.

Previously released research

Guided by Voices: How Influential Media Influences the Influencers.
Learn more.

Off the Grid: Marketing to the Next-Generation Media Consumer.
Learn more.

Maximizing Brand Lift with Online Advertising: Understanding the interplay of ad experience, engagement and environment.
Download the white paper.

Co-Authors