The Melbourne Cup is supposed to be the race that stops the nation, but this year’s cup won’t hold a candle to the US midterm elections on the same day, on November 6, which could see the Republican Party lose control of congress. While prize money for the cup will be a record $7.3 million, it will only be chump-change against the record level of spending in the lead-up to the midterm poll, which covers national and state congresses, state governors and local officials, all the way down to the county and municipal level (including some courts).
US research group Borrell Associates tracks spending on campaign advertising, and in its final estimate for the November poll, reckons that political advertising for the elections will climb to US$8.8 billion, a 6.3% growth on the spend for the 2014 mid-terms. This is US$400 million more than an earlier estimate in April.
Broadcast TV is projected to get the bulk of the overall spending at US$3.5 billion, although Borrell says its share of the market (40%) will be 25% less than in 2014. Digital media will see spending jump to US$1.8 billion, for a 20% share, from just US$70 million in 2014.
Display ads will get the biggest part of that digital spending, at US$706 million. Digital video will hit US$373 million, while email marketing will get to US$362 million. Overall, the research says more than 60% of every dollar will go toward social networks in terms of display and video advertising. Cable TV is forecast to get to US$1.1 billion (a 12.5% share). Radio will see US$689 million (7.7%), newspapers/magazines, US$723 million (8.1%), telemarketing, US$501 million (5.6%), out-of-home, US$406 million (4.5%), direct mail, US$225 million (2.5%), and other print, US$100 million.
This is good news for the already profitable online giants. The Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox will benefit with higher revenues for its Fox free-to-air TV business and network and local TV channels, and its Fox News cable channel. Comcast will see a similar benefit for the NBC network and its MSNBC cable news channel. Newspapers will get a boost of around three quarters of a billion dollars from this spending. Trillion dollar tech giants, Apple and Amazon won’t see much in the way of revenue flowing their way, nor will Netflix.
What this means for the future is that 2019 will be a down year for the media thanks to the absence of election spending, but 2020, with the presidential and congressional elections, should see over $10 billion spent, if not more.
Cambridge Analytica
“Advanced Algorithm Beats Conscious Thinking”
The new dirty weapon used to change election results, and ultimately decide who is running the world and has for several years.
Now we have the social media platforms that work without any true regulation, and set out their own rules based on the community values that they create, at the end of the day Mark Zuckerberg! knows exactly what it is that he has built, and that it is a platform for the collection of mass amounts of data that is then used to make sophisticated algorithms, allowing advertising and messaging to override the ability for any person to make a conscious, well balanced informed decision at any level when they are heavily engaged with social media and their advertising, creating poor business and community conditions throughout the world, continues to make the gap between working / middle and Upper Class so large, it, and the planet are not able to exist sustainably.
Any person / group / business / organisation / government can get you to vote in a certain way, buy a product, and or, start grooming whole groups of certain personality types in society to act the way they want them to. I am sure Mark-Zuckerberg! and his product Facebook would say, at best all they have done is enable, but actually, it actively engages in facilitating this data to help the likes of Cambridge-Analytica! grow their dangerous weapon, that I believe should be called analytic algorithm warfare! on a very advanced and worrying scale, for all of the human race who want to have independent thought and decision making as a basic right.
The algorithm wars have only just begun, and in my opinion they are a far more dangerous threat in the short, medium and long term than any A I., and that is why social media platforms in their current state must be shut down and prosecuted, if you took any other product that leads to suicide through bullying, just as one example it would be removed from use. Social media is no different, and the owner’s developers and senior management! of these and related businesses should be prosecuted under the new laws! that will surely be introduced Globally! because of the latest revelations about data mining and the use of data to corrupt election outcomes.
You can be assured the same businesses, governments and groups that are abusing data in the way they have been, will be at the forefront of A.I. technology, as the key to modern sophisticated A.I. is all about learning through very advanced algorithm, that then leads to self-awareness and individual thought, very worrying for humanity.
Governments of all persuasions, and every human on the planet should be outraged about the abuse of data, and how it is being manipulated to change the way you actually think and feel, there has never been a more destructive force in the world to date, these acts of manipulating people decision making are a “Direct assault on our most basic and important Civil Liberty!
Just saying!
Judging by the outrageous amount of money budgeted can we assume the USA does not have similar consumer laws to Oz about misleading advertising?
FUX will benefit through being paid to air political advertising – while providing all their usual free positive PR to benefit Rupert’s GOP : while simultaneously shitting on the Democrats?
Murdoch again devoting his partisan media outlets to interfering with the political process, to influence enough voter perceptions, to swing elections.
Yet they’ll decry “Johnny-come-lately amateurs” like Get-Up! and Cambridge Analytica for using the same m.o?
FUX News?
“It’s The Sun Wot Won It”?
Here?
“Editing” 70% of our print news, tag-teamed with their spear-carrying shock-jock dependents (dependent on “Limited News Fact” for theirs) :-
* The Limited News partisan advertorial assembly line, screwing Labor, hammering the Greens and buffing back Limited News Party imperfections.
* 363.25 daze of the year with their anti-Labor/Greens/’anyone that gets in the way of Rupert’s Limited News Party getting their way’ twisting facts propaganda : or ignoring to pass on embarrassing news re their Limited News Party.
* Since 1993, how many times have they backed their Limited News Party in 9 federal elections – ‘93, ‘96, ‘98, 2001*, 2004, 2010, 2013, 2016?
[*In 2001 more than a week after SBS, the ABC and a couple of other outlets were making revelations over the Reith-Hendy-Howard-Downer bastardry of “Children Overboard”, and a couple of days before the election, they joined in – to mitigate the electoral fall-out? And then who did they pimp on the eve of that election?]
* In 2007 only “backing” Rudd to save face – because they couldn’t save Howard’s rhetorical arse – to resume white-ant hostilities asap? That Utegate daisy chain of Grech-Lewis-Abetz-Turnbull?
* Limited News Party members quoting Limited News in parliament, so that Limited News could “quote parliament” ….. so that round and round that daisy chain goes?
All to swing a majority of swinging voters to elect a Limited News Party government?
All that noise and fuss to decide which of what Gore Vidal called “the Property Party’s two right wings” gets to drink more from the fountain of corporate munificence.
They could save a whole heap by simply phoning Murdoch and asking him what he’d like this time.