Friday, Aug. 15, 2008
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ONLINE EXCLUSIVE
Homemade Web Ads Leap To TV
New Service Is Bringing Online Political Videos To A Living Room Near You
So far, the thousands of homegrown videos posted on the Web in response to the presidential election haven't made a sweeping break onto television. But soon campaigns could see their carefully planned messages mussed by the YouTube generation.
With the help of a site called SaysMe.TV, now anyone can create a commercial and buy advertising on television for as little as $6 per play. The company, which launched in April, announced today that it can place ads in seven of the nation's 10 largest media markets, as well as markets in several battleground states.
(Credit: Reuben Dalke)
Donors who have reached the maximum $2,300 campaign contribution can buy ads using SaysMe.TV to "their heart's content," according to the venture's CEO and co-founder, Lisa Eisenpresser. Plus, the company pays a royalty to whoever creates the commercial.
"This is a business model for all those great talents who are making free content and putting it up on YouTube," she said. "We encourage that to continue, but we say, hey, why not put it up on SaysMe.TV, and when like-minded people feel passionate about your view and run your ad, you get paid."
That's an appealing offer for people like John Addis, who posts videos to YouTube under the screenname CartwrightDale. His ad attacking John McCain as too cozy with President Bush just surpassed 100,000 views after two days online. He created it, he said, during "an extended lunch break."
Addis, 31, who heard about SaysMe.TV when a friend e-mailed him, admits he started creating Web videos to fill a void created by campaigns that might be hamstrung by political niceties. His first videos in 2006 attacked Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm's (D) opponent for heading Amway, a company Addis doesn't like.
"From Granholm's perspective, you can't just bash a Michigan business," Addis said. "But somebody needed to say that kind of stuff."
If some iteration of SaysMe.TV becomes successful as a bridge from the Web to television, it could further erode the ability of campaigns to control their message.
"I see this as a tremendous opportunity to get the kind of messages out that you will never see come out of campaigns because they have 55 pollsters figuring out if they should say anything about the issue," Eisenpresser said, adding that both liberal and conservative views are welcomed on SaysMe.TV.
Some Democratic activists are already using the site to air dissent with Barack Obama. GetFISARight.net asked its members to fund an ad admonishing Congress for approving telecom amnesty, for which Obama also voted. More than 20 spots ran for the first time this week. That's not a huge number, but organizer Jon Pincus plans to reach opinion leaders by targeting the commercial to the ZIP codes where Democratic and Republican party conventions will be held during the next few weeks.
Andrew Rasiej is the founder of the Personal Democracy Forum, a group that seeks to engage voters through new media like the Web. Rasiej said that because younger generations are increasingly video-literate, and because technology makes it so easy now to create video, distribution on YouTube and iPhones has already taken off. Now technology might eliminate the last barrier to actual television -- cost.
"It wasn't as if the campaigns had a monopoly on television, it was that people with a lot of money had a monopoly on television," he said.
Viral video sensations of the future could include a link to buy TV time, creating the possibility for dramatic effect while engaging viewers more actively.
"Just because one person can get one little spot going in their hometown, that in itself probably isn't that impactful," Rasiej said. "What may be impactful is if one or two of the messages gets really, really compelling. Then people who believe in the message might support it financially and distribute it further."
Obama's campaign recently celebrated its 2 millionth donor, an impressive demonstration of people's willingness to get involved with politics online. Aaron Hodgins Davis, a senior at Skidmore College in New York, said he gave twice -- once for $10, then again for $5.
Although he's not a rich donor, he does offer other skills: Davis recently uploaded to YouTube a video he had created for a class project. The five-minute video, which has been viewed more than 200,000 times during the last week, attacks McCain as a warmonger.
Davis said "everybody and their brother is making political videos," and if campaigns want more help, all they have to do is ask. But while people clearly responded to the spot online, what's less certain is whether political candidates want to see such user-generated ads make the jump offline.
"The Obama campaign is pretty in touch with its supporters," Davis said. "I get a ton of e-mails asking for money from them, but I don't think I've seen one saying, 'Support our campaign by making videos and putting them on YouTube.'"