Unofficial campaign vids most popular on YouTube
The WSJ reports that the anti-Clinton video spoofing Apple's 1984 advertisement accounted for over 75% of all traffic to candidate-related videos on YouTube in March. Other data points:
- The McCain "bomb bomb Iran" video garnered him twice as many views as his Republican rivals in April
- 1.54 million visitors watched videos from Democrats in March, compared with Republicans' 108,000 visitors.
- Traffic stabilized in June, with both parties getting 300-400k.
- Mrs. Clinton's Web videos drew the most attention, drawing 23.2% of the total time in April spent by YouTube visitors viewing political videos. Mr. Obama followed with 20%. Former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards was third, at 16.1%
The Democrat's YouTube numbers correlate to their popularity in national polls, which could, in part, undermine any arguments that online video fosters greater diversity in political choice. While less popular candidates certainly get attention -- and while they have a greater opportunity now to break through with a viral campaign spot or accidental bit of video virtuosity -- YouTube looks to be mostly a reflection of mass-marketed taste. You see Clinton on the news, you search for her on YouTube. You don't search for candidates you don't know about.
But imagine how YouTube changes the balance of power for advertising companies. If I was running an ad agency and wanted to score a campaign client, I'd skip the bid process and start uploading example commercials to YouTube.
