Study: TV works best for political ads

It’s no wonder the bulk of political ads’ spending goes to TV–it remains the most influential medium when it comes to voting behavior among all age groups and political affiliations. That’s according to a political marketing study from Kelly Scott Madison, which asked respondents to weigh in on how effective various media are in influencing their voting behavior.

TV came out on top across the board, with 38 percent of Millennials saying it’s extremely or very effective, along with 25 percent of Gen Xers (35-50s), 19 percent of Boomers (51-69), 30 percent of Democrats, 26 percent of Independents and 25 percent of Republicans. One somewhat surprising finding: print newspaper and magazine ads remain fairly effective among all groups, despite those media’s recent struggles. Print was the No. 2 medium among Gen Xers (22 percent saying extremely or very effective), Boomers (18 percent), Democrats (27 percent), Independents (20 percent) and Republicans (21 percent). Millennials placed print at No. 4, although a healthy 29 percent in that group said print ads are extremely or very effective.