DVRs Help Voters Avoid Campaign Ads

Fred Davis III, a Hollywood-based political consultant, is shown in his Los Angeles home on Aug. 1, 2006. Davis, a Hollywood-based political consultant, said he isn't certain that digital video recorders will seriously affect campaign media strategies this campaign cycle, but he recognizes the disruptive trend. (AP Photo/Ric Francis) (Ric Francis - AP)

Comcast Corp., the nation's largest cable operator, is trying to revitalize political ad sales by creating an "Elections 2006" video-on-demand offering. Video-on-demand lets digital subscribers watch archived programs at any time, and Philadelphia-based Comcast is hoping campaigns will want to buy spots up to an hour long.

One of three Democrats running for lieutenant governor in Massachusetts, Cape Cod businesswoman Andrea Silbert, has purchased on-demand advertising, but Comcast officials couldn't tell The Associated Press how much uptake there has been on the "Elections 2006" feature systemwide.

Hollywood-based political consultant Fred Davis said he isn't certain that DVR usage will seriously affect campaign media strategies this campaign cycle, but he recognizes the disruptive trend.

"I think the day will come, and it's not a day I'm looking forward to," said Davis, whose Strategic Perception Inc., is consulting for Jim Bryson, the Republican gubernatorial nominee in Tennessee. "It's already an issue for the Budweisers and the Fords."

But Davis has had successes in producing not-for-broadcast campaign videos. Davis in 2002 created a 10-minute video for Georgia GOP gubernatorial candidate Sonny Perdue that depicted incumbent Democrat Roy Barnes as a rat climbing the Capitol dome.

The "King Rat" video never aired on TV, but it was spread over the Internet and burned onto DVDs. It's considered one of the highlights in Perdue's defeat of Barnes, despite being outspent $20 million to $3.65 million.

Both Murphy and Davis say it's unlikely political campaigns will create the two- to five-second ads some commercial advertisers are considering placing at the very beginning or tail-end of a commercial break to try to catch viewers attention as they scroll through the ads.

The problem, Murphy said, lies in trying to say "something meaningful" about a candidate in five seconds.