The 2008 U.S. Presidential election is in full swing now. Of course, it arguably has been geared up to a full-on race for the Democratic and Republican party nominations, yet only recently have we been given the privilege of hindsight into the contentious (not to mention hugely convoluted) primary process, which is still very much underway.

Given the present state of affairs on the campaign trail, we stand at a point at which it might be worthwhile to consider the investments made on the part of the candidates as far as their online presence is concerned. In particular, advertisements.

We all recognize the sheer insanity exemplified by the volume of spending for television spots in various markets around the country. By the time all is said and done, the amount of money involved in advertising - the bulk of which will naturally (or unnaturally, if that’s the way you prefer to see it) go to television - will most certainly be record-breaking in just about every which way one can think. Still, let us focus exclusively here on financing that has and will continue to go into the candidates’ Internet campaign efforts.

Many of us have already seen banners and boxes placed on sites operated by Web media outlets big and small showcasing the iconography and tag lines of the three main contenders. (Sorry, Huckleberry, but come on, let’s get serious here, your chances have already gone well south of the divide separating political miracles from political realities.) They’re on left- and right-leaning blogs alike. They can really be found most any place that is even tangentially related to the presidential race commanding the news feeds this year.

Yet, they’re not everywhere. That is to say, they’re not as prevalent as many may have suspected they would be at a moment such as this. Though the battle for the Oval Office is turning out to be the most engaging in recent history, online ad sales for the campaigns of Barack Obama, Hilary Clinton, and John McCain have been quite low. At least for the Democratic hopefuls, anyway, says Michael Learmonth of Silicon Alley Insider this morning.

Learmonth says, for example, that out of the $18 million spent by the Obama campaign, just $163,188 went to purchases of static and video-enabled ads online in January. That’s…tiny, yes? (more…)

ShareThis