The Internet may be the fastest-growing ad medium, but not for political advertising.
That’s the conclusion of a new report from local media research firm Borrell Associates, which found that online political ad spending will hit a paltry $20 million this year. That’s less than 0.5% of all political advertising, which should reach $4.8 billion this year. More than 80% of that money will go to local markets.
“Web sites will certainly play a role in the campaign process, but candidates are likely to spend most of their online budgets not on traditional display or video ads, but rather on search advertising. In fact, half that $20 million that we are forecasting this year will wind up in the hands of Google, Yahoo, and affiliated sites that are delivering their contextual advertising messages,” Borrell writes. Overall, the Internet accounts for 9% of total U.S. ad spend.
The reason campaigns aren’t spending money online is that most candidates still want to reach the 55-and-older demographic, which comprises a large percentage of voters. This demographic is not online frequently, but it does watch local TV. “Candidates will not abandon traditional media and risk losing this significant base of loyal voters,” Borrell said.
However, local TV stations should develop multimedia packages for candidates’ ad dollars, Borrell said. That will help stations redirect some voters to Web sites, where campaigns are investing their own marketing dollars.
Of the $4.8 billion in political ad dollars, television will garner 60%, newspaper 17%, radio 10% and cable 5%.