Obama, Romney: Fail To Exploit Online Media Opportunities

Barack Obama's and Mitt Romney's campaign teams spent more than $1 billion in advertising, but a study shows both failed to take full advantage of online media.

The biggest misstep points to a lack of coverage around key issues discussed during the debates, such as economy, taxes and budget. Election filings show the Obama campaign spent more than $47 million for online advertising and marketing, compared with Romney's $4.7 million, reports Politico. Jason Tabeling, partner, and head of Rosetta's search and media practice, said the team began assessing Obama's and Romney's online media campaigns based on the same criteria they would use to review brand campaigns. Rosetta measured performance from Sept. 10, through Oct. 23. Obama's campaign responded well to perceived wins and losses by the media through paid search ads and landing pages. He was specific about calls to action and responding to specific topics. Search ads pointed to landing pages supporting his points, but Romney's camp didn't really take full advantage of that tactic, Tabeling explains. Rosetta monitored keywords for paid search ads before and after debates. Candidates didn't use many keywords they should have, according to the analysis. For example, in Ohio, a key swing state, Romney held 3% coverage, whereas Obama had 41%. The difference indicates a key focus in response to specific issues discussed throughout the debates. Tabeling defines coverage as the percentage of times the candidate's ads serves up connected to a keyword in a search query or display advertisement.