2008 presidential campaign

AP's bold election night online video plan

Pete Wylie — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 15:12:14 -0500

The Associated Press's Online Video Network will provide live streaming coverage of Election Day results for the first time Tuesday, and its online video department plans innovative coverage of the conclusion of the historic race. The AP will bring 10 previously undecided voters from across the country into its web studio to share their decisions and the reasoning behind them, while supplementing the personal coverage with reports from the AP political unit. Coverage begins at 7 p.m. on www.ap.org and all of the AP's Online Video Network partner sites.

Kevin Roach, executive producer for online video for AP, said there wasn't a clear precedent at AP for this type of coverage.
"Our team didn't want to do a traditional TV-style, network news presentation; we wanted to develop something for the internet specifically," Roach said. "We still want to present stories with the highest journalistic standards, but we want to make sure they are suited for internet and mobile viewing."

The AP also plans to present video-essays, first-person accounts of voting issues filmed by still photographers, as another addition to its online video election coverage. Roach said the still photographers lend unique perspective to the video essays because they tend to shoot tighter shots than videographers.

In an era where many people are simply repackaging TV content online, or attempting to migrate the TV news format to online video, it's refreshing to see a player as major as AP take risks and explore the capabilities of the nascent online video market.

2008 Presidential debate metrics for video skew male, young

Pete Wylie — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 09:51:04 -0400

Divinity Metrics released findings Friday on the demographic breakdown of online video viewers of Wednesday's final presidential debate, showing a largely young, male audience. Males accounted for 72 percent of the more than 4.5 million views of online videos of the debate, and 88 percent of the audience was between the ages of 18 and 44, according to Divinity's figures that are through 2 a.m. EST Friday.

The analysis Divinity conducted compiled data from more than 200 online video platforms using traditional metadata analysis plus its unique video crawling technology. Divinity determined that 655 videos had been posted as of press time, with many more being added hourly.

Divinity also reported that 44,844 comments had been posted on debate videos in the roughly 30 hours since it ended, showing a high level of user interactivity with this content. The company's analysis can track the nature of comments, be they positive or negative, to determine public reception of content for tailoring of marketing campaigns. As online video becomes more and more a part of the political process, expect metric firms like Divinity to be in high demand to show how critical viewer groups are responding to candidates.

For more:
- check out Divinity's system and interface on its blog

The Top 5 funniest online videos of the 2008 Presidential Campaign (so far…)

Doug Mohney — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 16:37:51 -0400

As we near a half-way point between the Democratic and Republican national conventions, with thick and heavy partisan mudslinging destined to come between now and November, the editors at Fierce Online Video feel we need to insert a good laugh at this point.

Click to read about the "Top 5 funnies online videos of the 2008 Presidential Campaign (so far...)"

4 "The Empire Strikes Barak"

Doug Mohney — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 15:21:53 -0400

Take the "Star Wars" movies, cast Barack Obama as Luke Skywalker and Hillary Clinton as Darth Vader, have Bill show up as the Emperor, and it works pretty well despite the odd-looking cut-and-paste mixture of political candidate heads over top of George Lucas's best works. We could also do without the Reverend side trip.

Use the Force, er, internet, and view the video.

1 "Paris Hilton Responds to McCain Ad"

Doug Mohney — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 15:10:35 -0400

Did McCain campaign staffers think Paris Hilton would ignore this opportunity, delivered on a silver(haired)-platter, to be in the spotlight? This Funny Or Die exclusive counter-punches McCain's backhand to Hilton with an energy policy proposal that actually makes sense if you can look past Ms. Hilton's bathing suit posturing.

Paris Hilton strikes back - video

2 "The Incredible McCain Girl"

Doug Mohney — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 15:06:53 -0400

Brought to you by the folks at BarelyPolitical.com, this parody crossover mixing this summer's "Incredible Hulk" movie and the "Obama Girl" series has the right combination of humor, inside political slang and a kicking sound track. Our only regret is BarelyPolitical.com can't hit more home runs; the Obama Girl/McCain Girl Olympics spoofs have been weak.

Go green with "The Incredible McCain Girl" video

3 "Young Hillary Clinton"

Doug Mohney — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 15:02:42 -0400

An original from 60Frames, Jerry O'Connell and Brandon Johnson take a look back at what Hillary Clinton might have been like in grade school. Special guest appearance by a young Barack Obama.

View "Young Hilary Clinton" video

5 "McCANIAC!"

Doug Mohney — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 15:00:08 -0400

"McCainiac!" is so terribly bad, it's kind of funny.

23/6 does an almost straight-up play on the original "Flashdance" video/song hit "Maniac." Three middle-aged women howl out partisan lyrics in lieu of the Michael Sembello original, re-imagine scenes in front of a green screen (more clothes, no shower scene), which is all followed by a bizarre left turn into Terminator/Borg land.

You can view McCainiac! here.

If you need to cleanse your palate afterwards, the original "Flashdance" video should help.

Running for Office in the Online Video Era

Doug Mohney — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 17:51:35 -0400

If 2004 was the year politicians realized they could rack in funds from the Internet, 2008 will be the year that campaigns recognized the power of online video, saith Richard Koman at ZD Net.

Mitt Romney's campaign was the first to recognize the threat of online video back in early January 2007. A quick mashup of Romney's 1994 debate with Senator Kennedy showed Mitt voicing support for abortion rights and gay rights, positions he had later renounced. Romney's crew filmed a rebuttal in less than eight hours and shipped it around to his supporters and Republican bloggers.

John Edwards and Hilary Clinton get props for leveraging YouTube and interactive webcasting, with local townhall speeches getting a global reach and the ability to be repackaged in different ways. National viewers got snapshots of local campaign spinning and local attack ads can quickly appear on YouTube to get a national audience.

And Richard didn't even mention Obama Girl and her sequels.

For more:
- ZDNet's Campaign 08: Internet video is at the center

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