Streaming Video Hits the Big Time… And the Small Time
Author: Campaigns & Elections

MOST CAMPAIGNERS have discovered by now that the World Wide Web is a critical tool in modern elections. A Web page of rich graphics and photos with text outlining positions and platforms is a valuable resource for creating awareness, disseminating information, raising funds and even building communities. But that's not all the Web can offer. Streaming video can bring live events, pre-recorded visual messages and the power of video to browsers and constituents anywhere.

Streaming video is admittedly in its infancy, but live Web coverage of the 2000 Republican and Democratic National Conventions shows that "webcasting" campaign events can open the political process to thousands. In smaller campaigns where television costs are prohibitive, streaming may also be the only way for candidates to disburse an audio-visual message. And, as the technology matures, it will offer campaigns a powerful medium to create memorable imagery, emotional appeals, and, of course, spin.

You can imagine candidates broadcasting stump speeches and campaign events online: Picture a small local campaign harnessing the medium most Americans use for news and entertainment without the expense of television advertising or the filter of news sound bites. In many ways, the Web is democracy in action. Now the lights and cameras are ready to follow.

Anatomy of a Web Stream