Which Medium is the Most Powerful Tool for Political Campaign Ads?

A study shows that broadcast television was more trusted and had more of an impact that any other platform during the 2016 presidential election. An article written by Steve Lanzano details, "According to the new Voter Funnel study from GfK, which measured the actions taken as a result of being exposed to specific types of political advertising, TV was the most influential medium at every step of the decision-making process" (Lanzano 2016). This medium influenced Americans awareness and interest. They also got more information from TV than any other platform, when they considered voting and voted to determine who they should vote for. The TV also helped drive traffic to other media. 70% of respondents took action in response to seeing a political advertisement on TV. 26% of those respondents went online to learn more about the candidate and 31% discussed the candidates ad with others.

Further more, local television online platforms did especially well also with 64% of voters responding that they visited the websites of local news stations more frequently for information than social media platforms with only 11%.These statistics contradict a lot of peoples beliefs that digital media platforms are becoming the lead media for advertising strategies. Rather, people first turn to television and then after some initial information is gathered it drives the audience to online content to investigate the initial information further. Digital media platforms are being used to supplement information from the TV.  Another positive statistic about local broadcast television in particular, is that it is found to be way more credible and more effective of a way to get a candidates message to the votes. Across all ages, genders and political affiliations 84% of participants said that they believed  the local broadcast was the platform that they trusted most for information. This is over double the percentage of respondents that listed social media, which was only 41%.
As research shows, local broadcast television continues to be the most powerful tool for political campaigns, despite new and expanding technologies. It remains the most impactful way to talk to voters and it drives political discussion and propels voters to learn more.

*News Article: https://www.campaignsandelections.com/campaign-insider/study-local-tv-is-the-biggest-influencer-of-voter-decisions