It’s election season. Primary contests are underway in many states. Between now and November, candidates and political action committees will raise and spend money to influence voters. And, they're buying media space to snag voter attention.

Ad Timing

Politicians have a huge opportunity to score votes. With all the talk about absentee ballots and the chance to vote early, 76% of young adults, aged 18–34, don’t decide who they’ll vote for until the week before the election. A new Video Advertising Bureau Political Report also points out that 63% of Black voters don’t make up their minds until the week before the election.

Fake News

Given the contentious rhetoric being espoused at the national level, and some politicians’ expert use of technology, at least 75% of consumers are concerned about “fake news.” About the same percentage of voters say they feel ‘fake news’ on social media is problematic.

TV

Consumers firmly believe TV is the most accurate source of information about politics. By age group, the following percentages of consumers give TV the thumbs-up:

• Age 18+ 60%
• Ages 18–34 63%
• Ages 35–54 63%
• Ages 55+ 56%

In any election cycle, voters must take in information and decide where they stand on the issues. The VAB survey findings show that TV plays a larger role than other media formats at every point in the process of influencing voters. The main decision-​making steps and the influence of TV break out as follows:

• Discovery of candidates and issues: For 71% of voters, TV is where they first learn what’s going on
• Gather information: 74% of voters say TV ads are tops for getting their attention
• Generate interest: 73% of votes say TV ‘keeps them informed through the election cycle’
• Vote: After seeing a political TV ad, 63% of voters have taken action

Multi-​Screen

The effects of multi-​screen exposure to political ads can’t be minimized. VAB analysts report that 76% of voters who’ve seen multi-​screen political ads have taken action. In this study, multi-​screen ads included TV and TV news websites. According to the AudienceSCAN profile at AdMall from SalesFuel, about 25% of adults call themselves Every Election Voters. Help your clients reach voters by encouraging them to buy multi-​screen ads.