Video Voter

On January 19th, Nevada held its first-in-the-west presidential caucus, and turnout was unprecedented. In the Democratic Caucus, close to 120,000 Nevadans participated, up from just 9,000 in 2004. In the Republican Caucus, over 40,000 voters took part, an increase of more than 20% from four years ago.

During the twelve weeks leading up to Caucus Day, 24 cable TV channels aired educational spots 220 times a week highlighting "what is a caucus."  This was made possible through a collaborative effort between Cox Media, Charter Communications, National Cable Communications, and Video Voter.

Each educational spot contained a special link or message that allowed viewers to access a five minute video-on-demand 'tutorial' offering critical information on how to participate in a caucus. These tutorials enabled party organizations, volunteers, campaign organizers, labor unions, special event fundraisers, and the media to gain a better understanding of the caucus process. Major topics included: who is eligible to participate, what happens at a caucus, and why the Nevada Caucus was so important.

Additionally, due to the high concentration of bi-lingual and Spanish speaking workers in the Las Vegas Casino-Hotel industry, Cox - Las Vegas translated the spots into Spanish and placed them in rotation on Galavision.

The Nevada Caucus ’08—Voter Education Initiative spearheaded many new firsts. Among the most important were the following:

• Presidential Campaigns sent e-alerts to their supporters and organizers asking them to watch the 'tutorials' on Cable TV
• Both GOP/DEM State Parties informed their activists about the ‘tutorials’ to help them prepare for their caucus meetings
• Local PBS and ABC Affiliates reported on the Nevada Caucus '08—Voter Education Initiative and told viewers how to access them from their web sites or Cable TV
• Fox, TBS, Family Channel, Fox News and MTV viewers linked most often to the video-on-demand 'tutorial'
• 23,180 Cable Households linked from the spot to the Nevada Caucus Tutorial on the Video on Demand platform
• Nevada Caucus '08 'tutorial' received almost 45% of the total video-on-demand views during the weekends
• During the first 8 weeks, the approximately 5,265 educational spots received over 14,000 responses linking to the 'tutorial' on the video on demand platform
• CNN and MSNBC pre-debate news segments highlighted the Nevada Caucus '08 voter education initiative

The consensus among political party officials and political professionals is clear. Using cable's video on demand platform complements a campaign;s more traditional political communications (mail, radio, Internet, television) and is an effective tool to engage voters in a longer conversation about the issues.

Click to view NevadaCaucus.tv.