Media Metrics

With a chill to the wind and a nip in the air, the fall season is upon us. Never mind the slew of crime-based shows, the main media event will be the 2004 presidential
election. October -- the time people start to really pay attention to national elections -- is less than two weeks away, so we thought it would be helpful to see from where both
regular and sometime voters will be getting their information. Even though long-term trends favor cable TV, the stats at right show that it's a bit premature to write off the
broadcast networks, as they'll get the lion's share of eyeballs for election coverage. (The percentage target equals the total number of regular/ sometimes voters who will be
watching or listening.) The bar charts below indicate the increasing clout of the Internet vis-a-vis presidential politics, as more and more consumers use on-line services to
access newspapers and/or radio sites.

"The presidential election this time around is gathering a lot of attention, continually being fueled by the controversy over military records and the debate over US
involvement in Iraq," said Lidj Lewis, VP, Media Relations, Medialink. "Locally, there may also be some hotly contested elections. However, there will still be ample airtime, so
PR professionals should not shelve their campaigns entirely during this time, but should proceed with a bit of caution." He added: "Using a blend of media--TV, Radio, print, and
the Internet, for instance--could help clients selectively reach target audiences in a cost-effective manner."