Googling the US Electoral Cycle, 2004-2016: South African Insights

The US electoral cycle is one of the most closely watched political events in the twenty-first century. Indeed, in each successive year, new records are broken for expenditures on advertising by the campaigns. The digital sphere has become the main arena in which the various campaigns reach out to...

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Main Author: Bhaso Ndzendze
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: University of Johannesburg 2020-03-01
Series:The Thinker
Online Access:https://journals.uj.ac.za/index.php/The_Thinker/article/view/230
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author Bhaso Ndzendze
author_facet Bhaso Ndzendze
author_sort Bhaso Ndzendze
collection DOAJ
description The US electoral cycle is one of the most closely watched political events in the twenty-first century. Indeed, in each successive year, new records are broken for expenditures on advertising by the campaigns. The digital sphere has become the main arena in which the various campaigns reach out to potential voters. By one 2019 estimate, “spending for political ads will reach $10 billion, an increase of 59% from the 2016 election year when an estimated $6.3 billion was spent. This represents a potential 16.5% of total local broadcast TV advertising revenue for 2020. Digital media is forecast for 21% of political ads, cable TV 14% and radio nearly 5%” (Adgate, 2019). This disproportional share for digital spending is indicative of what scholars have termed as the rise of computational politics, defined by one study as “the application of digital targeted-marketing technologies to election campaigns” (Chester and Montgomery, 2017: 1).
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spelling doaj-art-e91e30ce32f04a589ec6f2f49307b30c2025-01-28T09:02:43ZengUniversity of JohannesburgThe Thinker2075-24582616-907X2020-03-0183110.36615/thethinker.v83i1.230Googling the US Electoral Cycle, 2004-2016: South African Insights Bhaso Ndzendze The US electoral cycle is one of the most closely watched political events in the twenty-first century. Indeed, in each successive year, new records are broken for expenditures on advertising by the campaigns. The digital sphere has become the main arena in which the various campaigns reach out to potential voters. By one 2019 estimate, “spending for political ads will reach $10 billion, an increase of 59% from the 2016 election year when an estimated $6.3 billion was spent. This represents a potential 16.5% of total local broadcast TV advertising revenue for 2020. Digital media is forecast for 21% of political ads, cable TV 14% and radio nearly 5%” (Adgate, 2019). This disproportional share for digital spending is indicative of what scholars have termed as the rise of computational politics, defined by one study as “the application of digital targeted-marketing technologies to election campaigns” (Chester and Montgomery, 2017: 1). https://journals.uj.ac.za/index.php/The_Thinker/article/view/230
spellingShingle Bhaso Ndzendze
Googling the US Electoral Cycle, 2004-2016: South African Insights
The Thinker
title Googling the US Electoral Cycle, 2004-2016: South African Insights
title_full Googling the US Electoral Cycle, 2004-2016: South African Insights
title_fullStr Googling the US Electoral Cycle, 2004-2016: South African Insights
title_full_unstemmed Googling the US Electoral Cycle, 2004-2016: South African Insights
title_short Googling the US Electoral Cycle, 2004-2016: South African Insights
title_sort googling the us electoral cycle 2004 2016 south african insights
url https://journals.uj.ac.za/index.php/The_Thinker/article/view/230
work_keys_str_mv AT bhasondzendze googlingtheuselectoralcycle20042016southafricaninsights