Tuesday, October 23, 2007

YouTube Reviews - Republicans, Part VII

Glenn Beck is a dickpocket.

That has nothing to do with today's post, but it's really all the intro I need before getting on with the show. Speaking of shows... haven't I seen this guy somewhere before?

Excuse me, are you... Fred Thompson?

FACT FILE: FRED THOMPSON

ACCOUNT NAME: fredthompson
NUMBER OF VIDEOS: 34
NUMBER OF SUBSCRIBERS: 708
TOTAL CHANNEL VIEWS: 48,211
TOTAL VIDEO VIEWS: 134,738

While Thompson's numbers aren't exactly gaudy (yet), they certainly have the potential to move in that direction despite the candidate's late start. According to the tracker at TechPresident.com, Thompson recorded a 3.2% increase in video views last week, second only to netmaster Ron Paul (5.3%) and the suddenly-interesting Mike Huckabee (5%). Not bad for a guy who's only officially been in the field since September 5th.

So, we can see that people are watching, and in increasing numbers. But, what exactly are they seeing? Why, I'm glad you asked.

You get... clever movie puns!


Debate clips!


And lots and lots of responses to challengers!






That seems like quite a bit, right? In fact, responses to challengers on the left account for roughly 18% of Thompson's video content. That's pretty substantial, especially compared with the numbers on Thompson's more direct "Ask Fred" series of clips...

...which currently make up only around 9% of the candidate's content. While the run-of-the-mill debate clips and media appearances that make up the majority of Thompson's content all deal with his stance on particular issues, you have to watch all of them to figure out which clip covers which issue. The same goes for the challenger response clips: viewers are generally presented with some version of the opponent's view before they get to see Thompson's stance.

For a late-entry candidate trying to make a name for himself in an already-crowded field, more clearly labeled, Thompson-centric, policy-driven clips might serve as a better foundation. Addressing the other side is a valuable tool, but it's not necessarily one to build a media campaign around.

We're down to two Republicans left, and we'll be dealing with at least one of them before the end of today. Which one? Well, you'll just have to wait and see.

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