This year's national and local elections are generating record levels of advertising spending.
eMarketer estimates online advertising from political campaigns and advocacy groups will reach $50 million this year.
That is not much compared to political ad spending overall, said Lisa E. Phillips, eMarketer senior analyst and author of the new report, Politics '08 Online: Push Meets Pull.
"Over the course of the year, less than 2% of political ad budgets will be spent online," Ms. Phillips said. "That pales in comparison to the 50% to 80% of the budgets that will be spent on broadcast TV advertising."
With all the excitement and traffic that political blogs, candidates' social network pages and campaign Websites are generating, why are politicians spending so little on online advertising?
"Television's ability to push candidates' messages out to a mass audience—and push it fast—makes it the winner for this hotly contested election year," said Ms. Phillips.
The Campaign Media Analysis Group (CMAG), a division of TNS Media Intelligence, estimates $3 billion will be spent on political advertising on television this year, up 30% over the 2006 midterm elections, and up 77% compared with the last presidential election in 2004.
The presidential candidates alone are forecast to spend $800 million on television ads.
Of course, in many cases, the push TV ads are sending people to the candidates' Websites, where they are greeted with requests for donations, e-mail addresses and campaign merchandise for sale.
"The Internet is pulling voters into conversation and interaction with candidates and issues in ways that barely existed in the last presidential election, a mere three-and-a-half years ago," Ms. Phillips said.
The Internet may not be getting its fair share of political ad dollars yet, but in combination with television it is already being used as a powerful one-two punch—not only to raise awareness, but to raise funds, too.
"This push-pull model created by political marketers is a tactic marketers in many categories could profit from," said Ms. Phillips.
To find out about other innovative ways political marketers are using the Internet, download the new eMarketer report, Politics ’08 Online: Push Meets Pull, today.