Candidate Videos by the Numbers
Let’s leave aside how good these videos are, how well they connect with the voters, how authentic, unscripted, revealing, intimate, or whatever other quality you think they should have. Here are the 2008 Presidential Candidates on YouTube… as gathered on its new feature YouChoose ‘08, strictly by the numbers:
Obama is kicking butt, in terms of times viewed, with nearly three times as many views as the second best candidate, Edwards. Edwards, to his credit, has been registered on YouTube longer than any of them: four months before Clinton and five months before Obama.
Of all the candidates, only Edwards, Clinton, and Obama got onto YouTube in 2006 and all of the remaining candidates have been on YouTube for a month or less.
That is just by the numbers, of course.
For more info, see Politics Online and Online Media Daily.
March 6th, 2007 at 1:22 am
Just because someone views the video, doesn’t indicate agreement. I think you’re putting too much stake in those stats.
btw, here’s my approach to YouTube campaign videos:
www.ExpertVoter.org
gary
March 8th, 2007 at 5:47 pm
Alan - should we not read too much into these numbers as they are most certainly skewed? At best, they represent maybe 50% of new “actual users.” In otherwords, 50% of each candidates user numbers in this Chart are internal staffers / friends who are already sold on the candidate. Maybe more. As well, YouTube has a user level of over 100 million videos viewed on its site Every Single Day. Close to 20 million unique users per month are using YouTube (reuters) . 80,000 total video’s viewed (over how long a period of time by the way?) appears to be very little … Is the best yet to come?
March 11th, 2007 at 10:29 am
I agree that viewing does not equal endorsement. But it does indicate getting the message out. This is essential, regardless of whether the audience agrees.
As I say, this is the first cut at the numbers, and Ben is right they are small in the overall scheme of things. Let’s see how they develop.