Campaigns Turning More to Online Videos

"The reporting is very robust. I can find out how many seconds did they watch this video," he said. "I'll find out how many people watched it again. To get that kind of reporting is really unique to the Web. On television you don't know if someone stepped out of the room."

Bassik added that video ads can inform traditional TV spots: "If you're going to do a large television buy, you could stream each of the possible ads in banner ads online and track the results."

As for campaign- and supporter-created Web videos, which often involve humor or edgy content that would not make it on TV, campaigns hope that enough buzz will be created that voters will send the video to a friend, starting a chain of e-mails.

"If the ads are made creatively and if they're smart and clever, they're going to have a viral effect," said Laura Crawford, who produces online video for the Republican National Committee.

"People at work will sample these and get a political jolt as a break in their workday," said Michael Cornfield, a senior research consultant with the Pew Internet & American Life Project. "It reaches people in hours when they were previously impervious to political messages."

Despite video's growth, political consultants say that campaigns can be slow-moving when it comes to responding to changes in technology. Current spending levels are nothing compared with the billion-plus dollars spent on TV ads, Tracey said. "And from the user end you have to go to the site and watch a bunch of campaign video," he added. "Is that something that a lot of people will want to do?"

Democratic consultant Dan Manatt said he has worried about "the video falling in the woods, but nobody hearing it."

So online consultants are trying to innovate. Manatt, for example, started PoliticsTV.com as a repository for political video, a left-leaning site with a "candidate channel" and a "satire channel."

On the Web site of the political action committee of former Virginia governor Mark R. Warner, the potential 2008 Democratic presidential contender instantly appears, blending into the background and offering a welcoming statement. "I was looking for something that's a little bit outside of the box," said Warner adviser Jerome Armstrong.