Political Advertising in the 21st Century: The Rise of the YouTube Ad

This paper explores online political advertising in the form of digital videos posted on YouTube. Using a unique database of over 3,500 political ads posted on YouTube during the 2008 presidential campaign, it examines whether YouTube has allowed new actors to have an influence in electoral politics and whether ad creators are embracing new formats online or merely replicating traditional 30-second ads. It also examines the influence of YouTube advertising on election outcomes, both directly on voters and indirectly by setting the media’s agenda. We find that although most online ads use traditional formats and are posted by traditional actors, the most-viewed ads employ a wide variety of formats and were posted by both traditional and non-traditional political actors. Moreover, although people seem to recall new-style ads posted by everyday citizens and other internet-era groups, the news media’s focus is on 30-second ads designed for television.

[1]  Kathleen M. McGraw,et al.  An Impression-Driven Model of Candidate Evaluation , 1989, American Political Science Review.

[2]  LaChrystal D. Ricke.  A New Opportunity for Democratic Engagement: The CNN-YouTube Presidential Candidate Debates , 2010 .

[3]  V. Gueorguieva,et al.  Voters, MySpace, and YouTube: The Impact of Alternative Communication Channels on the Election Cycle and Beyond. , 2006 .

[4]  Travis N. Ridout,et al.  Does Political Advertising Persuade? , 2007 .

[5]  Robert Huckfeldt,et al.  Examining the Possible Corrosive Impact of Negative Advertising on Citizens' Attitudes toward Politics , 2009 .

[6]  J. Trippi.  The Revolution Will Not Be Televised: Democracy, the Internet, and the Overthrow of Everything , 2005 .

[7]  W. Crotty.  The Race to 270: The Electoral College and the Campaign Strategies of 2000 and 2004 (review) , 2009 .

[8]  D. Karpf.  Macaca Moments Reconsidered: Electoral Panopticon or Netroots Mobilization? , 2010 .

[9]  Travis N. Ridout,et al.  Free Advertising , 2008 .

[10]  M. Hindman.  The Myth of Digital Democracy , 2008 .

[11]  Tom Carlson,et al.  Riding the Web 2.0 Wave: Candidates on YouTube in the 2007 Finnish National Elections , 2008 .

[12]  K. Goldstein,et al.  New Evidence for New Arguments: Money and Advertising in the 1996 Senate Elections , 2000, The Journal of Politics.

[13]  R. Lau.  In Defense of Negativity: Attack Ads in Presidential Campaigns , 2006, Perspectives on Politics.

[14]  D. West.  Air Wars: Television Advertising in Election Campaigns, 1952-1996 , 1993 .

[15]  D. Shaw.  The Effect of TV Ads and Candidate Appearances on Statewide Presidential Votes, 1988–96 , 1999, American Political Science Review.

[16]  D. West.  Air Wars: Television Advertising in Election Campaigns, 1952-1992 , 1993 .

[17]  Kenneth M. Goldstein,et al.  Evaluating Measures of Campaign Advertising Exposure on Political Learning , 2004 .

[18]  R. Klotz.  The Sidetracked 2008 YouTube Senate Campaign , 2010 .

[19]  Nicholas A. Valentino,et al.  The Impact of Political Advertising on Knowledge, Internet Information Seeking, and Candidate Preference , 2004 .

[20]  M. Winograd,et al.  Millennial Makeover: MySpace, YouTube, and the Future of American Politics , 2008 .

[21]  Travis N. Ridout,et al.  Local Television and Newspaper Coverage of Political Advertising , 2009 .

[22]  Kevin Wallsten,et al.  “Yes We Can”: How Online Viewership, Blog Discussion, Campaign Statements, and Mainstream Media Coverage Produced a Viral Video Phenomenon , 2010 .