• by Philip Rosenstein , Staff Writer, July 8, 2016

The field of political marketing in the 2016 election cycle has seamlessly adopted the tech advancements. One particular medium that has seen significant use within campaigns is digital video.

Candidate campaigns and super PACs have focused heavily on digital video advertising, on mobile, desktop and to a lesser extent, connected TV. The main draws for digital video include cross-screen capabilities and interactivity, two facets of modern marketing strategies that are increasingly important and effective.

Millennials and Hispanic voters are particularly prone to being influenced by online video, per a national study by Tremor Video and Cygnal, the research and advertising firm.

The study showed that while Hispanic voters are less likely than the average American to consume political news daily, they are 24% more likely to use online video to consume information about candidates and issues. A key finding: Hispanic voters are twice as likely to be motivated to register to vote by online video when compared to the general population.

These numbers are even greater for millennials.

They are 2.5x more likely to register to vote after watching an online video than the general population, and they are twice as likely to be influenced to vote for a candidate or issue by an online video.

Mobile also has a particular role to play.

“Both millennials and Hispanics have interacted heavily with candidate information on their phones. We have been astonished by the time these groups have spent learning about the 2016 campaign through digital channels,” Monica Seebohm, national director of politics and advocacy at Tremor Video, told Red, White & Blog.

Seebohm also noted that the best video advertising ROI in politics is found on mobile.

Still, digital video  faces some challenges. The global ad tech firm Brightcom held a roundtable in June focused on video ad spending around the 2016 cycle, where a number of interested parties discussed the role of video.

Michele DeVine, programmatic sales manager at Vox Media, explained that she anticipates “issues in terms of scale for video when it comes to publishers. We are starting to look at other options: in-banner videos, custom execution that can include video players.”

The importance of turnout for certain demographic groups, in particular millennials and Hispanics, will increase the necessity for campaigns and causes to utilize digital video to deliver their message.