Voters Go Off the Grid: Will Campaign Ads Follow? - SAY Media

Since the 1950s TV ads have been the easiest way for political candidates to reach large audiences and still maintain complete control When any political slipup is immediately amplified across every social media channel careful scripting and editing is the easiest and safest way for candidates to sway an undecided voter right Wrong It doesn39t workTV ads are expensive with the 2012 political cycle expected to top 3 billion That39s a lot of money when you consider that 42 percent of likely American voters aren39t even using live TV as their primary source of video In fact according to the results of SAY Media39s second annual research study quotVoters Going Off the Gridquot more and more voters are consuming media via streaming video tablets and smartphone amp8211 not TV And those who are still watching video on TV are recording it with 32 percent of voters skipping commercials altogether via DVRSo what does this mean for the candidates Time to change their TV media plan Run fewer ads Kiss fewer babies After all most people already know which way they39re going to vote It39s only those crucial undecided voters who politicians really need to reachKnowing how important the key battleground states will be in the 2012 election the Off the Grid study also examined the media consumption habits of likely voters in Florida and Ohio Pay attention politicians and political advisers Their media habits are changing Mobile adoption rates in both states are much higher than the overall average with a 15 percent increase in Florida and a 13 percent increase in Ohio from just last year And they aren39t just using them to play Angry Birds and take photos of those adorable babies that need to be kissed eitherThe key findings from the Off the Grid study were More video content is streaming In 2012 42 percent of Americans likely to vote aren39t using live TV as their primary source of video content and nearly half the total time watching video in a week is not on live TV Voters are going mobile Half of likely voters own a smartphone Ad skipping is on the rise While many likely voters still watch live TV 32 percent skip ads entirely when watching recorded TV from a DVR Tablets are on the uptick One third of likely voters own a tablet providing a new channel for political ad campaigns to reach potential voters Both Florida and Ohio are also seeing similar patterns a third of likely voters their own tablets Live TV viewership is in decline Nearly a quarter of likely voters plan to switch to digital streaming compared to traditional providers in one to two yearsBottom line is that if politicians in the 2012 election want to reach as many Americans as possible they need to reach voters where they live and work on their laptops mobile phones and tablets After all candidates can visit a lot more coffee shops than they ever thought possible to wrangle up votes amp8230 just as long as those coffee shops have WiFiSAY Media is a digital publishing company that creates amazing media brands Through its technology platform and media services SAY enables its portfolio of independent content creators to build passionate communities around key consumer interest areas such as Style Living Food and Tech For more information visit wwwsaymediacomRead all SAY Media39s MediaBizBloggers commentaries at SAY DailyCheck us out on Facebook at MediaBizBloggerscomFollow our Twitter updates MediaBizBloggerThe opinions and points of view expressed in this commentary are exclusively the views of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaBizBloggerscom management or associated bloggers MediaBizBloggers is an open thought leadership platform and readers may share their comments and opinions in response to all commentaries

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