Priorities USA Action may have bought tons of Promoted Tweets for Twitter keywords like “2012Election” and “John King” leading up to President Obama’s reelection on Tuesday night. But what the left-leaning political action committee (PAC) had been up to on YouTube for the prior five months probably made a much bigger difference.
In fact, the PAC hit GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney hard with Bain-related attack ads, constantly targeting YouTube viewers in swing states with pre-roll ads. Nineteen-month-old Priorities USA also repurposed its 30-second TV spots (see one example below) on YouTube.
Overall, around 20 anti-Romney videos were posted in recent weeks and supported by ads, generating 68 million impressions and 26 million completed views, according to Priorities USA via email. Global Strategy Group, a political marketing consultancy, helped with the effort.
According to Priorities USA officials, an overwhelming majority of the ads were served to independent voters in six battleground states, namely Ohio, Florida and Iowa. What’s more, the PAC claims its data shows that its Bain-related, anti-Romney ads were seen 40 times as much when compared to counter attack online video ads paid for American Crossroads, the right-leaning Super PAC.
American Crossroads did not respond to interview requests.