Barack Obama may find the Internet a great source of funding, but neither he nor his opponent seem willing to rely on it for advertising.
The political realm is always slow to pick up on new trends, and it seems that the Web is no exception. MediaWeek (via Silicon Alley Insider) notes that March's comScore tool found that Obama's campaign ran 18.1 million impressions, while McCain's had 7.2 million. When compared against McDonalds (300 million, and not a heavy Web advertiser), and companies like Netflix (which often runs 5 billion impressions a month), it's apparent that the candidates are slow to adopt the Web as a serious contender for gaining voters through advertising.
While the campaigns are most likely basing their ad-buy budget allotments on the proven successes of television advertising in past elections. So far, the Internet has yet to prove itself as a serious force in an election. And while many will cite the enormous amount of fundraising that Obama managed during the primaries as proof that the Internet can be a successful campaign medium, others will cite the disparity of online support for former candidate Ron Paul to the number of votes he actually received during his campaign as a sign that the Internet populace may not be the same as the voting public.
While candidates have embraced many other facets of the Internet for the race, it's clear that online advertising has a way to go to be taken as seriously as ad buys in traditional media like television and print.
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