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A Digital Year in Review
- 1. A Digital Year in Review: What You Need to Know Moving Ahead State of the Internet 2nd Quarter 2012 #SOI12
- 2. Agenda • The State of the Internet • Competition in Online Music • Traffic Patterns in Online Video • The Changing Face of Social Media • 2012 Presidential Election Coverage @comScore, Inc Proprietary. 2
- 3. The internet continues to grow globally with significant Y-o-Y growth in India and Russia South Korea +2% China +6% UK +2% France +2% Brazil +6% Germany +3% Russian Federation +21% US +3% India +38% Japan 0% Top 10 Countries by UVs @comScore, Inc Proprietary. Source: comScore Key Measures, June 2012 3
- 4. News/Information, Retail, and Community categories show strong growth Y-o-Y 1,600 +7% +12% +11% +11% 1,400 +17% 1,200 +7% +15% +16% 1,000 800 600 UVs in Millions 400 200 0 US Non-US World Wide Top Categories Worldwide by UV @comScore, Inc Proprietary. Source: comScore Media Metrix, June 2012 4
- 5. The number of internet visitors is continuing to increase year-over-year in the United States 250,000 Unique Visitors (000) 200,000 150,000 100,000 214,474 +3% 221,155 50,000 - June 2011 June 2012 Unique Visitors in the US (000) @comScore, Inc Proprietary. Source: comScore Media Metrix, June 2012 5
- 6. Additionally, more people are visiting the internet daily compared to one year ago 250,000 Average Daily Visitors (000) 200,000 150,000 100,000 174,713 +5% 183,849 50,000 - June 2011 June 2012 Average Daily Visitors in the US (000) @comScore, Inc Proprietary. Source: comScore Media Metrix, June 2012 6
- 7. The Entertainment and Social Media categories were the most popular in Q2 217,000 Unique Viewers by Category (000) 216,520 216,265 216,190 216,000 215,605 215,000 214,000 213,204 213,000 212,000 211,000 Social Media Portals Community News/ Entertainment Information @comScore, Inc Proprietary. Source: comScore Media Metrix, June 2012 7
- 8. ONLINE MUSIC @comScore, Inc Proprietary. 8
- 9. Online music is a competitive space but offers opportunities for growth through different platforms. @comScore, Inc Proprietary. 9
- 10. The Music and Radio categories are competitive, however VEVO claims the most visitors. VEVO 56,966 MTV Music Group 49,037 Yahoo! Music 24,730 Pandora 19,939 ToneMedia 16,798 Clear Channel Online 16,316 CBS Interactive Music 13,579 MOGMusicNetwork 13,008 MySpace Music 12,571 ARTISTdirect 12,069 AOL Music 10,757 Spotify 9,869 Unique Visitors (000) @comScore, Inc Proprietary. Source: comScore Media Metrix, June 2012 10
- 11. VEVO has utilized Online music sharing to its advantage. Other 35% YouTube 65% Over half of all of VEVO’s traffic comes from YouTube. @comScore, Inc Proprietary. Source: comScore Media Metrix - Source/Loss Report, June 2012 11
- 12. Pandora dominates in online radio. 19,939 16,316 3,102 2,832 1,372 Pandora.com Clear Channel Online Radio.com Emmis Communications Corporation One Player Radio Unique Visitors (000) @comScore, Inc Proprietary. Source: comScore Media Metrix, June 2012 12
- 13. And even more in mobile apps. With the 39 million visitors. And a 38% reach among Smartphone users. @comScore, Inc Proprietary. Source: comScore Mobile Metrix, June 2012 13
- 14. Despite Pandora’s dominance, Spotify continues to grow rapidly through its downloadable software. 9,868,948 June 2012 +25,845% 38,038 June 2011 Unique Visitors @comScore, Inc Proprietary. Source: comScore Media Metrix, June 2012 14
- 15. ONLINE MUSIC SUMMARY VEVO has the most visitors in music through its partnership with YouTube. Pandora dominates online radio and Smartphone music apps. Spotify is growing rapidly, and could represent a challenge to Pandora. @comScore, Inc Proprietary. 15
- 16. ONLINE VIDEO @comScore, Inc Proprietary. 16
- 17. Online video is still testing multiple pricing models and is greatly affected by seasonality. @comScore, Inc Proprietary. 17
- 18. Netflix traffic has been volatile over the past year 36,000 34,000 Increase in traffic Pricing change for new customers during holiday 32,000 Unique Visitors (000) season 30,000 28,000 26,000 Traffic picks up into the summer Pricing change for season 24,000 existing customers 22,000 20,000 May-2011 Aug-2011 Nov-2011 Feb-2012 May-2012 @comScore, Inc Proprietary. Source: comScore Media Metrix, June 2012 18
- 19. Hulu visits are greatly affected by the seasonality of television programs 180,000 Visits drop off as shows conclude 160,000 their seasons 140,000 120,000 Visits (000) 100,000 80,000 Visits increase as fall shows premiere Visits continue to 60,000 fall into the summer 40,000 20,000 May-2011 Aug-2011 Nov-2011 Feb-2012 May-2012 @comScore, Inc Proprietary. Source: comScore Media Metrix, June 2012 19
- 20. SOCIAL MEDIA @comScore, Inc Proprietary. 20
- 21. While Facebook’s recent IPO has some concerned that its popularity is decreasing, it still offers targeting opportunities to advertisers. @comScore, Inc Proprietary. 21
- 22. Visitation to Facebook has grown since 2009 but in recent months it has leveled out 180 80 170 Average Daily Visitors (MM) 160 70 Unique Visitors (MM) 150 140 60 130 120 50 110 100 40 90 80 30 70 60 20 Jun-2009 Nov-2009 Apr-2010 Sep-2010 Feb-2011 Jul-2011 Dec-2011 May-2012 Total Unique Visitors (MM) Average Daily Visitors (MM) @comScore, Inc Proprietary. Source: comScore Media Metrix, June 2012 22
- 23. Users are spending more time on other social networks in addition to Facebook 20% 16% 1.5% 2.5% 12% Share of Total Time Spent Online 8% Other Social Networks 4% Facebook 0% Jun-2008 Jun-2009 Jun-2010 Jun-2011 Jun-2012 @comScore, Inc Proprietary. Source: comScore Media Metrix, 2008 -2012, U.S 23
- 24. Social Media Sites are Intertwined 12% 36% 21% 159,821,745 UVs 24% 15% 31% Source: comScore Media Metrix - Cross-Visitation report, 24 June 2012, U.S..
- 25. These referrals are a result of social media sites offering different capabilities to the same audience @comScore, Inc Proprietary. 25
- 26. Males on Social Networks: Young males over-index on Twitter, Tumblr and Facebook 300 250 UV Composition Index 200 150 100 50 0 18-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 65+ Source: comScore Media Metrix, June 2012, U.S. @comScore, Inc Proprietary. 26
- 27. Females on Social Networks: Twitter and Tumblr are more popular among women 18-24, while all ages visit Pinterest 300 250 UV Composition Index 200 150 100 50 0 18-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 65+ Source: comScore Media Metrix, June 2012, U.S. @comScore, Inc Proprietary. 27
- 28. Social Media sites hit different age groups when segmented by gender Tumblr is popular Twitter is among F18-24 and Pinterest is more more popular M25-34 popular with 250 among females than M25-34 than UV Composition Index males 200 F25-34 150 Males 100 Females 50 0 18-24 25-34 18-24 25-34 18-24 25-34 Source: comScore Media Metrix, June 2012, U.S. @comScore, Inc Proprietary. 28
- 29. Pinterest users continue to have the highest BPI behind LinkedIn users 250 226 UV Composition Index 200 163 150 130 111 109 100 50 LinkedIn Pinterest Twitter Facebook Tumblr Source: comScore Media Metrix, June 2012, U.S. @comScore, Inc Proprietary. 29
- 30. Pinterest users spend fewer dollars on travel than the average internet user % of Total Internet Spending 70% 64% 59% 60% 50% 41% 40% 36% 30% 20% 10% 0% Travel Total Internet Pinterest Non-Travel Source: comScore Cat. Spending Report, June 2012 @comScore, Inc Proprietary. 30
- 31. Pinterest users’ spending is more concentrated in the Home and Apparel categories % of Total Non-Travel Spending 30% 25% 25% 25% 24% 20% 20% 17% 15% 15% Total Internet 11% Pinterest 10% 9% 6% 6% 5% 0% Electronics & Computing Home & LivingApparel, Accessories, & Jewelry General Services Books, Music, & Video Source: comScore Cat. Spending Report, June 2012 @comScore, Inc Proprietary. 31
- 32. Retailers take advantage of this concentrated spending by creating pinboards @comScore, Inc Proprietary. 32
- 33. Retailers take advantage of this concentrated spending by creating pinboards But on Pinterest, brands must wait for consumers to come to them. This reduces opportunities to extend a brand’s reach. @comScore, Inc Proprietary. 33
- 34. “The Power of Like 2” examines how Facebook provides this increased reach to brands through organic and paid exposure… …and determines that it can lead to higher brand purchase behavior among those exposed. 34 34
- 35. Fans and friends of fans over- index in total spending for leading retail brands 250 231 209 204 197 200 151 160 150 108 116 100 100 50 0 Amazon Best Buy Target WalMart Fans Friends of Fans Index of 100 = Segment spent as much, on average, as the general population Source: “The Power of Like 2” @comScore, Inc Proprietary. 35 comScore Social Essentials Nov-Dec 2011
- 36. Is this higher propensity to spend simply correlation as opposed to causation? @comScore, Inc Proprietary. “The Power of Like 2” comScore whitepaper, June 2012 36
- 37. Social Lift: Effect on In-Store and Online Purchasing 4.5% Lift in Online/Offline Buyer Penetration 4.0% 3.9% 4.0% 3.8% 3.5% 3.3% 3.3% 3.0% 3.0% 2.5% 2.0% +19% +27% +21% 1.5% 1.0% 0.5% 0.0% Fans Friends of Fans Combined Control Exposed Source: comScore Social Lift, U.S., Feb-Mar 2012 @comScore, Inc Proprietary. 37
- 38. Overall, the test group had a higher purchase incidence than the control group 1.6 2.4% 2.12% 1.4 Nominal lift in Purchase 2.0% 1.80% Purchase Incidence 1.2 1.54% 1.6% Incidence 1.36% 1.0 1.30% 1.2% 0.8 1.00% 0.83% 0.58 0.50 0.6 0.8% 0.66% 0.36 0.4 0.4% 0.17 0.2 0.0% 0.0 Week 1 Week 1-2 Week 1-3 Week 1-4 Nominal Lift Test Group Control Group For more information please see “The Power of Like 2” http://www.comscore.com/Press_Events/Presentations_Whitepapers/2012/The_Power_of_Like_2-How_Social_Marketing_Works Source: comScore Social Lift, U.S., Feb-Mar 2012 @comScore, Inc Proprietary. 38
- 39. SOCIAL MEDIA SUMMARY Facebook has transitioned from the growth stage to the maturity stage. Traffic to social networks is highly intertwined. Despite competition, Facebook still provides reach extension opportunities for brands. @comScore, Inc Proprietary. 39
- 40. 2012 Presidential Election Coverage: How Digital Media is Changing the Way Presidential Campaigns are Strategized. @comScore, Inc Proprietary. 40
- 41. DISPLAY ADVERTISING @comScore, Inc Proprietary. 41
- 42. Obama’s strategy places heavy focus on display advertising MittRomney.com 13% BarackObama.com Display Ad Share of Impressions 87% Display Ad Estimated Spending @comScore, Inc Proprietary. Source: comScore Ad Metrix, June 2012, U.S. 42
- 43. Candidates carefully select publishers to reach target audiences 80 Share of Display Ad Impressions 70 60 50 Q1 40 30 20 10 0 Facebook AOL, Inc. Yahoo! Sites Facebook Google Sites AOL, Inc. BarackObama.com MittRomney.com Top 3 Publishers by Display Ad Impressions @comScore, Inc Proprietary. Source: comScore Ad Metrix, Jan – March 2012, U.S. 43
- 44. Strategies shift as target focuses change 80 +19% Share of Display Ad Impressions 70 60 50 -50% -6% Q2 40 +50% 30 +196% 20 -77% 10 0 Facebook AOL, Inc. Yahoo! Sites Facebook Google Sites AOL, Inc. BarackObama.com MittRomney.com Top 3 Publishers by Display Ad Impressions @comScore, Inc Proprietary. Source: comScore Ad Metrix, Jan – June 2012, U.S. 44
- 45. SOCIAL MEDIA @comScore, Inc Proprietary. 45
- 46. Facebook a large source to Mitt Romney’s and Barack Obama’s campaign site 792,000 26% of Entries BarackObama.com 244,000 12% of Entries MittRomney.com Top Social Media Referrer to Campaign @comScore, Inc Proprietary. Source: comScore Media Metrix - Source/Loss, June 2012, U.S. 46
- 47. 3.6 5.6 Frequency of Impressions/ Frequency of Impressions/ Friends of Fans Friends of Fans 80.5M 41.6M Earned Media Impressions Earned Media Impressions Fans & Friends of Fans Fans & Friends of Fans 27.9M ans 4.7M ans Mitt Romney Barack Obama @comScore, Inc Proprietary. Source: comScore, Social Essentials, June 2012, U.S. 47
- 48. Facebook audience vary between fan pages 0 50 100 150 200 18-24 Obama has the 25-34 most Facebook fans and leads in 35-44 reaching 18-34 45-54 55-64 Romney leads in reaching 45+ 65+ Barack Obama Mitt Romney Facebook Page Composition Index @comScore, Inc Proprietary. Source: comScore Social Essentials, June 2012, U.S. 48
- 49. SEARCH VISIBILITY @comScore, Inc Proprietary. 49
- 50. Candidates defend turf and increase brand exposure with PPC. 12,000 10,000 BarackObama.com 8,000 Impressions in Thousands 6,000 4,000 MittRomney.com 2,000 - Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Trend in Sponsored Link Exposures @comScore, Inc Proprietary. Source: comScore Search Planner, Jan – June 2012, U.S. 50
- 51. Romney’s PPC campaigns get creative and get “clicked” 400 200 Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Trend in Paid Search Clicks (000) @comScore, Inc Proprietary. Source: comScore Search Planner, Jan – June 2012, U.S. 51
- 52. MOBILE ACCESSIBILITY @comScore, Inc Proprietary. 52
- 53. Barack Obama draws more people to his site via Smartphones than Mitt Romney 1.08M BarackObama.com 171K MittRomney.com Total Visitors to Site via Smartphones @comScore, Inc Proprietary. Source: comScore Mobile Metrix 2.0, May 2012, U.S. 53
- 54. POLITICAL NEWS & BLOGS @comScore, Inc Proprietary. 54
- 55. Viewers are increasingly turning to videos for political news and information 7,000 50,000 45,000 6,000 40,000 Media Metrix UVs in Thousands 5,000 35,000 30,000 Video Metrix UVs in Thousands 4,000 25,000 3,000 20,000 2,000 15,000 10,000 1,000 5,000 0 0 Oct-2011 Apr-2012 Aug-2011 Sep-2011 Nov-2011 Dec-2011 Jan-2012 Jun-2012 Apr-2011 Jun-2011 Jul-2011 Feb-2012 Mar-2012 May-2012 May-2011 UVs of News/Information Politics Category Source: comScore Video and Media Metrix, @comScore, Inc Proprietary. 55 April 2011 - June 2012, U.S.
- 56. Audiences consume content across sites with different political ideologies DailyKos.com TalkingPointsMemo.com HuffPost Politics Politico.com NewsMax.com Sites DailyCaller.com Breitbart.com DrudgeReport.com 0% 25% 50% 75% 100% Democrat Independent Republican Share of Minutes Consumed by Affiliation @comScore, Inc Proprietary. Source: comScore Segment Metrix, i360 Segments, June 2012 56
- 57. Identified democrats spend significant time on conservative sites DailyKos.com TalkingPointsMemo.com HuffPost Politics Politico.com NewsMax.com Sites DailyCaller.com Breitbart.com DrudgeReport.com 0% 25% 50% 75% 100% Democrat Independent Republican Share of Minutes Consumed by Affiliation @comScore, Inc Proprietary. Source: comScore Segment Metrix, i360 Segments, June 2012 57
- 58. WEB STRATEGY @comScore, Inc Proprietary. 58
- 59. Barack Obama currently leads in web audience reach with 3.4M visitors Health Reform 4,000 State of the 3,500 Romney Union 3.4M Announces BarackObama.com 3,000 Official 2,500 Running Dream Act 2,000 1,500 1,000 0.5M 500 MittRomney.com 0 UVs to Candidate Sites (000) @comScore, Inc Proprietary. Source: comScore Media Metrix, March 2011 – June 2012, U.S. 59
- 60. Persons 45+ visitors over index on both campaign sites, compared to total internet 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 18-24 BarackObama.com 25-34 MittRomney.com Total Internet % 35-44 Composition 45-54 55-64 65+ Demographic Breakdown of Site Visitors @comScore, Inc Proprietary. Source: comScore Media Metrix, April - June 2012, U.S. 60
- 61. Mitt Romney leads in high income visitors 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 15,000 - 24,999 BarackObama.com 25,000 - 39,999 MittRomney.com 40,000 - 59,999 Total Internet % Composition 60,000 - 74,999 75,000 - 99,999 100,000 or more Household Income Breakdown of Visitors @comScore, Inc Proprietary. Source: comScore Media Metrix, April - June 2012, U.S. 61
- 62. In 2008 the candidate with the strongest web presence became the next US President. 2012 brings new challenges with a dynamic digital environment. 8,515 Who will be the next US President? 5,534 3,773 2,203 1,544 596 Jan-08 Feb-08 Mar-08 Apr-08 May-08 Jun-08 Jul-08 Aug-08 Sep-08 Oct-08 Nov-08 2008 Presidential Candidate Sites UVs (000) @comScore, Inc Proprietary. Source: comScore Media Metrix, Jan – Nov 2008, U.S. 62
- 63. Barack Obama had the most visitors to his campaign site in Q2 and also showed dominance in display advertising, and search strategy. Mitt Romney has a heavy focus on Facebook as a campaign strategy, and has had much success with his engaging search campaigns. US Internet audiences seem to be preparing for the upcoming election by gathering political news across the web without discriminating against sites with differing ideologies. With such a dynamic online ecosystem, which candidate will come out on top? For more information and analysis on the 2012 Presidential Election please see “Digital Politico”. http://www.comscore.com/Press_Events/Press_Releases/2012/4/comScore_Releases_The_Digital_Politico_Report @comScore, Inc Proprietary. 63
- 64. Key Takeaways • The Internet continues to grow • Online music is competitive, but with opportunities • Video viewership affected by seasonality and promos • Social Media shares audiences and is interconnected • Digital media continues to change the face of political campaigns @comScore, Inc Proprietary. 64
- 65. Q&A Thank You!! For more information: – Email learnmore@comscore.com
Editor's Notes
- The largest 10 countries based on UVs show scattered development. While some countries like India and Russia have grown greatly, we see Japan’s number have not changed y-o-y.
- Out of the top world wide categories, we saw significant growth in News/Information, Retail and Community sites. Also to note, the US makes up a small population of internet activity compared to the world (in yellow).
- Transition: Now that we’ve seen a snapshot of internet traffic patterns worldwide, let’s look at how the internet is growing in the United States.Unique Visitors went up 3% in the US Y-o-Y
- Average Daily Visitors went up 5% Y-o-Y in the US
- The Entertainment and Social Media categories have the most UVs by category (Services and Corporate Presence categories were excluded).In the Worldwide rankings Entertainment and Social Media ranked 3 and 4 respectively. These categories are more popular among the US audience.Transition: We will now dive deeper into the entertainment and social media categories by looking at online music and online videos, as well as the role of Social Media in people’s propensity to spend.
- The Entertainment-Music and Entertainment-Radio categories were combined and sorted by UVs, top 12 were taken and shown above.
- Used a Source-Loss report and divided by YouTube entries by total entries to VEVO.
- comScore Entertainment – Radio category top 5 by UVs
- Pandora mobile app is unified.
- Spotify is a downloadable software which unlike Pandora is not accessible through a browser. This data is UVs to the Spotify website, which people have to go to in order to download the software.
- Netflix price increase took effect for new customers in July. Price increase took effect for existing customers on September 1st. Traffic is now picking back up again into the summer.
- Hulu gets most of its traffic from people watching television shows which air on the major networks ABC, NBC, and Fox. Once these shows have concluded for the season Hulu traffic drops off.
- Both Unique Visitors and Average Daily Visitors have flattened out in recent months.
- Visitors to one social media site often visit other social media sites.Read this figure in the direction of the arrows. That is, 12% of Facebook visitors also visit Pinterest, 36% of Pinterest visitors also visit Twitter, 31% of Twitter visitors also visit Tumblr, etc.
- The arrows indicate the directional change in indices as compared to males on social networks.
- Looking back one year, LinkedIn has always had the highest BPI of these five social networks, although Pinterest has come close to challenging it in several months. LinkedIn users historically have a higher HHI than other social media users.
- Data taken from domain category spending report for Pinterest users.
- Data taken from domain category spending report for Pinterest users.General Services may refer to any of the services listed here: 4x6 PRINTS,OTHER PHOTO SERVICES,OTHER PRINTS,OTHER SERVICES,PHOTO MERCHANDISE,SHIPPING SERVICESExamples of sites in General Services category: Shutterfly.com, Bestbuy.com, Fedex.com, Snapfish.com, Walmart.com
- Anthropologiepinboard on Pinterest.
- From The Power of Like 2, Nov-Dec 2011 data.
- comScore researched the incremental purchase behavior of those exposed to a Target campaign on Facebook.
- From The Power of Like 2, Nove-Dec 2011 data.Compared to the control group, Fans of Target were 19 percent more likely to purchase at Target in the four weeks following exposure to earned messages (99 percent confidence level). To an even greater degree, Friends of Fans were also more likely to buy at Target with a lift of 27 percent compared to the control group.
- From The Power of Like 2, Nove-Dec 2011 data.A methodology similar to that employed in the above Target example was used to investigate the impact of earned media exposure on online and in-store purchasing at Starbucks, with the results showing a similar lift in purchasing among both Fans and Friends of Fans.
- Display advertising has become a way of strengthening the candidate’s brand image and also getting key messaging across to online audiences. We see both candidates have very similar and slightly different publisher strategies for their display advertising. Even though Mitt Romney’s display ad share is lower than Obama’s, we see that social media is a key component of his display ad strategy. Obama on the other had has a more distributed display ad strategy across his top 3 publishers.
- Candidates are seen shifting focus on their display ad campaigns by their top 3 publishers quarter over quarter. Where Facebook has become a even larger key strategy for Mitt Romney, and less for Barack Obama. Leading up to the election in November, we can look forward to these types of shift occurring continuously as each candidate’s over all campaign strategy changes to reach outliers or strengthen base supporters.
- With all the effort put in to advertising on social media, what are the results?
- Looking at the top social media referrers to each campaign site, we see that Facebook is clearly a big driver to both campaigns. We also see the effects of Mitt Romney’s focused display advertising campaign efforts as 26% of his site traffic comes from Facebook.
- Looking at the candidate’s strategy on the Social Media end, it’s clear that Barack Obama has the larger share of voice in reaching the over all US population. There’s a huge difference in the number of fans between the two candidates; however, we see that Mitt Romney’s emphasis is in reaching the Friends of Fans.In a recent CNN article (http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2012/09/22/obamas-big-social-media-edge-will-it-affect-the-election/) they point to the same difference between the two candidate pages. Anyone can compare and say Obama has a larger fan base, but CNN asks is it really “engaging” and effective? We can see from comScore metrics that there is a lot more brand exposure from Obama’s fan page. But, in regards to repeated exposures Mitt Romney’s got him beat.Obama has a 27.9 Million FB Fans80.5 Million Earned Media Impressions through Fans, and Friends of Fans3.7% Population ReachMitt Romney has 4.7 Million FB Fans41.6 Million Earned Media Impressions through Fans, and Friends of Fans1.3% Population Reach
- Total Social Network Composition Index
- Sponsored Link Exposures = Paid Search ImpressionsSearch visibility becomes an important player in strengthening each candidates’ personal branding. We see PPC campaign impressions trending upward as elections draw nearer and candidates want to strengthen their brand and their base supporters. Similar to display advertising Obama is leading in PPC shares by impression. How effective are the candidates’ strategies?
- While Barack Obama may be leading in PPC shares by impressions - Romney’s creative May fundraiser, which gives audiences a chance to win a one in a life time opportunity to dine with the candidate and his wife, showed great popularity in May. On the flip side, Obama’s PPC strategies do not seem as effective based on just clicks considering the high number of impressions.
- Mobile has hit a huge growth period since the last election. It will be interesting to see how candidates will leverage this technology in the months leading up to the election. Lets take a look at how they are currently performing.
- We observe both candidates receiving increased mobile traffic to their campaign sites in the past several months. Barak Obama is leading with over 1.08 Million UVs, whereas Mitt Romney is seeing about 171K Uvs in May (only about 16% of the traffic Obama is currently receiving).
- Political sites and blogs this year play an increasingly important role in elections. With their relentless coverage of the election, their influence grows as a source of information in the digital ecosystem.
- While viewers are increasingly turning to online for political news, we also see video UVs increasing within the News/Information Political category. The category includes sites like NewsMax.com, C-Span, Politico, etc…
- Taking a closer look in to the audience behavior and engagement, we actually see that Democrats are spending a significant amount of time across these sites no matter the political affiliation of the site. (eg. NewsMax.com, DailyCaller.com, Breitbart.com, DrugeReport.com)
- Taking a look at the top political sites across from conservative – liberal spectrum, we see that viewers of different political affiliation are fairly sizeable audiences within each site. While those who identify themselves as independents seem to make up almost a third of the audience across all sites, democrats and republicans seem more inclined to visit sites that line up with their own political ideologies.
- So, how have all these strategic decisions and audience behaviors affected each candidates’ campaign thus far?
- We see from their site activity, that Obama is actually leading in audience reach with over 3.4 million viewers. Romney’s traffic only makes up about 15% of Obama’s.
- Who’s responding to these candidates outreach strategies? Looking at the composition index for both candidate sites, it appears that they both over index for Persons 45+. Romney over indexes for Persons aged 25-34.% Composition UVs for Total Internet18-24: 12%25-34: 18%35-44: 18%45-54: 16%55-64: 10%66+: 6%
- Taking a deeper look in to the type of audience each candidate is bringing to their site, we see that Romney is significantly over indexing for those with house hold income of $100,000 or more. % Composition UVs15,000-24,999: 6%25,000- 39,999: 15%40,000- 59,999: 23%60,000- 74,999: 10%75,000- 99,999: 14%100,000 or more: 22%
- Previously, leading up to the 2008 election we saw that the candidate with the strongest web presence become the next US President. With the dynamic changes in digital media, advertising, social media, and news cycles, which candidate will be the next US President? We shall wait and see.