Voters Who Watch Online Video Are More Engaged

Traffic to online video on popular news sites, video blogs, YouTube and other sites has seen a 5x increase since our last presidential election in 2004, but has online video changed how people engage in politics this time around?

The latest results of Cisco’s Visual Networking Index Pulse Survey, which includes data from Compete and responses from about 1,800 registered U.S. voters, found that the internet is second only to television as a significant source of political information this election cycle, and online video users tend to follow the race more closely than those who don’t watch online video.

Key findings include:

• 62% of respondents said that they regularly access information about the presidential election online through their PCs
• About 30% of registered voters said they watched video related to the presidential election online, and 75% of them felt it helped them follow events more closely
• Online video watchers seem to be more engaged in the election than other respondents; 62% of online video users say they follow the presidential election closely, while only 37% of non-online video users do

What might these findings mean after November 4th? One implication is that future candidates will have more targeted and efficient means of reaching voters with their respective messages.

Although TV is still the pervasive medium for news, more people are seeking out video on demand through the internet. Cisco’s Visual Networking Forecast predicted that by 2012, the next time Americans choose a president, there will be a 6x increase in global IP traffic, and that video on demand, television over IP and Internet TV will make up 90% of consumer IP traffic by that time.
For additional results and more information about this study and Cisco’s Visual Networking Index, visit www.cisco.com/go/vni.

Comments

[Billy Hallo...:]

Interesting commentary about video. With the 2008 presidential campaign finally wrapping up, I thought you might be interested in some light-hearted political fun. Here at Public Agenda we think that political movies have the potential to encourage public engagement, as many films explore intriguing social and political themes. That’s why Public Agenda is asking what your favorite political movies are! We’ve posted a list of our favorites at www.publicagenda.org/p... and we’re asking you to post yours at www.publicagenda.org/f....

Also, be sure to check out our non-partisan Voter’s Survival Kit at www.publicagenda.org/c....

2008 Nov 03 11:55 AM

[PainfullyAware:]

TV Blows - Too Much Spin And Filter.

Critical Thinking IS A Dying Art.

If the powers that be have their way they will filter the content like China or Australia. Got Net Neutrality? Not long now.

The Circus Continues - Down With Clowns !!!

2008 Nov 03 12:28 PM

[Matt Zimmerman:]

This is heartening, and not too surprising. Voters who attempt to inform themselves through watching online video maybe don't have as much time as other voters. So it really falls on those who produce online video - especially news and politics-related - to be even more diligent in creating packages that are not just interesting, but informative.

2008 Nov 03 02:53 PM