A new Nielsen Online report shows that Senator Barack Obama is dominating the other candidates in campaign video views (press release PDF).
The report shows Obama with 518,000 unique video viewers consuming more than 820,000 streams of content, and averaging 16 minutes per user. Hillary and McCain lag behind with 351,000 and 38,000 unique viewers, consuming 551,000 and 66,000 streams respectively. Obama simply trounces his competitors in time spent, with nearly 4x Hillary’s 4.8 minutes per viewer, and McCain’s 1.5 minutes per viewer.
You gotta love when aging bureaucracies get involved in new media. Following an emotional national response to retired steelworker Steve Skvara’s YouTube question at last summer’s AFL-CIO candidate forum, the federation of unions is trying to “start a new kind of conversation” around the question “What’s wrong with America and what will you do to change it?”
The contest which runs through May 20th, offers $2,000s cash award to one overall winner and one “youth activist.” In addition, regional winners in certain cities may have their videos shown in TV ads or appear at AFL-CIO rallies.
The AFL-CIO is no doubt seeking to reassert their relevance in addition to showcasing potential new union leadership. “Turn Around America” does sound a hell of a lot better than “Become the next John Sweeney.“
Social networking consequences. Reuters reports that McCain staffer Soren Dayton’s job was suspended for forwarding a video of Reverend Jeremiah Wright, Sen. Obama’s preacher.
The article says that Dayton “sent out the video via a device used for online social networking.”
While busy attending and covering the world of online video at this week’s OMMA Conference, I missed one of the most important political speeches given this season, and probably one of the most important speeches about race relations in this country since “I Have a Dream.”
Fortunately for all of us, the online video industry has advanced enough to deliver largely on its promise right now. I was easily able to find Sen. Obama’s speech from Tuesday night on MSNBC.com, and using my laptop to control my HTPC, play it on my TV. Just a few short months ago, this may not have been possible, at certainly not with the quality that the professional broadcasters and leading video sites have been able to deliver.
For bloggers of all types, it is becoming easier and easier for them to embed content from various sources, and bring not just opinions, but the content those opinions are based on, directly to readers. How many political bloggers will be embedding the full speech by Sen. Obama along with their commentary? After two days of digesting nothing but online video, it was nice to be able to come home and relish the idea that its not just hype.
This election keeps getting more entertaining. With Super Tuesday (2) upon us Rob Reiner has teamed up with Jack Nicholson for an unauthorized online video endorsement of Hillary Clinton.
I was catching up on my Sunday morning roundtable shows before the Oscars, and had to hear this??
I just watched the clip and decided to embed it here for the hell of it. Then Ralph Nader joining the race for president became an online video story. Guess how? The second time I watched the clip, I got the same 30-second pre-roll ad for Boeing. But Mr. Nader also promised that his website would be the most interactive of any presidential candidate. He’s got the basics, but he’s just quite there yet. Sign up and donate, or see his whole platform, but as of this writing, the links to Facebook, MySpace and YouTube don’t work. Maybe that’s why he’s advertising for some web development help on the site, too. But we like that he’s looking for some videographers. Dont forget to send those videos our way, Ralph!
Stanford law professor, and internet thought leader Lawrence Lessig has announced via online video that he is looking into running for congress in California’s 12th district.
He has done so by launching a new-media style exploratory committee. An online video announcement, a website, Lessig08.org, and a Facebook group: Draft Lessig, through which people can show their support.
In addition, he announced what he calls the Change Congress Movement, a coalition he is seeking to form based on three ideas:
1. Individually not take any money from lobbyists or PACs
2. Vote to ban earmarks in the Congressional appropriations process.
3. Support public financing of campaigns.
As CEO of Creative Commons Lessig has led the charge for openness as it relates to political campaigns and the internet. Most recently he championed the importance of making presidential debate footage freely available online. Larry, if you run, we’re with you.
With the primary race on the Democratic side showing no sign of cooling off, now might be a good time to catch up on what you’ve missed, or at least watch a different talking head for a chance.
Hillary dumped her campaign manager yesterday, something Newsweek’s Jon Meacham is sure to touch upon during Newsweek’s Webcast covering the Potomac primaries. Tune in at 7pm tonight to Newsweek.com.
In the meantime, enjoy the latest spoofs of a hot political video. This online video, added Monday, has been streamed nearly half a million times in its first 24 hours. The original, “Yes, We Can,” posted below, is a week old and has been streamed more than 5 million times.
Shortly before ceding South Carolina to his republican rivals and leaving the state, Mitt Romney got into a heated exchange with AP reporter Glen Johnson over Romney’s reliance on lobbyists as senior advisers.
This type of thing might not have received nearly as much attention in the past, but the prevalence of online video has made it far easier to publicize and distribute an incident like this in its entirety to a large audience.
First reported on a CBS News blog, video of the incident and the aftermath in which Romney returned to pick up the argument with Johnson has been quickly circulated by Veracifier and of course picked up by Keith Olberman. Gone are the days when the press conference ended when you turned off the microphone.
Last week there was a widely publicized incident between U.S. warships and Iranian patrol boats in the Strait of Hormuz. Both the U.S. and Iran issued strongly worded statements about what took place. Thanks to YouTube, footage of the confrontation from both sides is freely available in its entirety to anyone.
One of the greatest benefits of online video use in the media is the ability to offer an uncut look at an event without the concerns and constraints of a news program seeking ratings. No television news show could get away with airing both videos, each approximately five minutes long; it’s not compelling enough on its own for a mainstream audience.
But for those interested, it’s out there:
The U.S. View:
The Iran View:
Note that there’s still plenty of room to alter a video (and subtitles) so the content is only as reliable as its source. The official Iranian version is here.
Jon Stewart’s Take:
Perhaps some other international incidents in Stewart’s Big Book of Petty Sh!t That Has Started Wars could have been prevented before they got out of control if there existed the access to information that exists today.
