1.
IMPACT OF POLITICS | 2018
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Overview
03 Methodology
17 Glossary
Analytics Data
04 National news sites drives the fastest
growing visits YoY compared to all
industries
05 National news is top of mind
06 National news sites see sizable traffic
from outside the U.S.
07 National news apps are not dead…yet
08 Good news for retailers – elections
are only a short lived distraction for
consumers
Advertising Cloud Data
12 Politics sites are winning with
rising CPMs
13 Young republicans are the most
sought-after audience
14 Marketers slow down during
election weeks
15 Surge in political ads turns
consumers off to all advertising
Social Data
09 Hot topics by state on social
10 Sentiment of political issues by
state are consistent
11 Trump is bigger than most
things on social, but not love

2.
IMPACT OF POLITICS | 2018
METHODOLOGY
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Adobe
Analytics Cloud
The Impact of Politics 2018 report is based on…
• Aggregated and anonymized consumer data from large websites and apps over 150+ billion visits or
launches of 400 sites since January 2016.
• 3.1 Billion social mentions from Jan 1, 2018 – Sept 4, 2018 via Blogs, Facebook, G+, Reddit, Twitter,
Dailymotion, Flickr, Instagram, Tumblr, VK, Disqus, Foursqare, Metacafe, Wordpress, and YouTube.
• 83 billion video ad impressions from August 2016 – Sept 2018
Adobe
Advertising Cloud

3.
IMPACT OF POLITICS | 2018
National News drives the fastest growing visits YoY compared to
all industries
Smartphone –
• National News sites see above
average visit growth on
smartphones (51%)
Tablet –
• National News is the only industry
to see positive visit growth on
tablets (12%)
Desktop –
• One of three industries to still have
growing visits on desktop (2%)

4.
IMPACT OF POLITICS | 2018
National News is top of mind
• Over a quarter of traffic
to National News sites
comes between 8am
and 12pm
• Mondays drive 40% more
traffic to National News
sites compared to the
weekend

5.
IMPACT OF POLITICS | 2018
National News sites see sizable traffic from outside the U.S.
Nearly 3 out of 10 visits to National News sites come from outside the country
• Evidenced by the share of international traffic to U.S. National News sites, we see that politics are relevant
and hot worldwide

6.
IMPACT OF POLITICS | 2018
National News app are not dead…yet
Consumers are loyal to their downloaded apps; however, there is only so much room for news apps
to continue to grow as installs are on the decline
App launches are up 40% in the last two
years
• Consumers continue to use their
downloaded apps to access news
App installs are down nearly 50% since
September 2016
• As the mobile web experience continues
to improve, consumers are unlikely to
download news apps to access their news

7.
IMPACT OF POLITICS | 2018
Good news for retailers – elections are only a short-lived
distraction for consumers
Heading into the Holiday Season and Midterm
elections, we wanted to quantify the effect of
elections on E-Commerce –
• Bit of softening in total visits the day after
the election (-6%), but visits restore by
Friday (+8%)
• RPV on smartphones dips 15-20% on
election day suggesting more browsing and
lower conversion, but again recovered by
the weekend

8.
IMPACT OF POLITICS | 2018
Hot topics by state on social

9.
IMPACT OF POLITICS | 2018
Sentiment of political issues by state are consistent

10.
IMPACT OF POLITICS | 2018
Trump is bigger than most things on social, but not love

11.
IMPACT OF POLITICS | 2018
Politics sites are winning with rising CPMs
CPMs are steadily increasing as we approach the Midterm elections this fall –
• CPMs for political websites are up almost 100% in the last two years, while CPMs for all categories
are on a slow decline
CPM: cost per thousand impressions

12.
IMPACT OF POLITICS | 2018
Young republicans are the most sought-after audience
Young republicans (18-24) are
nearly twice as expensive to
reach compared to democrats
of the same age group.
• Younger age groups are generally
more expensive to reach
compared to older age groups
(35+), for all political affiliations
**Source: Adobe AdCloud via Cross-Screen Planner
CPM: cost per thousand impressions

13.
IMPACT OF POLITICS | 2018
Marketers slow down during election weeks
• CPMs increase going into the
weekends prior to election
week
• Advertisers could take
advantage of the lower CPM
during election week, but
would have to battle with
engagement
CPM: cost per thousand impressions

14.
IMPACT OF POLITICS | 2018
Consumers turn their backs on advertising during the first half of election
weeks
• Engagement with video
display ads drops prior
to election Tuesday but
quickly restores
• Display video ad CTR
sees 159% lift compared
to the four days prior
(Sun – Wed)
CTR: clickthrough rate (clicks/impressions)

15.
IMPACT OF POLITICS | 2018
GLOSSARY
Industries –
Retail & E-Commerce: Sale of consumer products to
consumers online
National News: Organizations focused on covering
news stories
Auto, Home & Life Insurance: Company and quote
sites for all non-health insurance types
Automotive: Manufacturer and car search & review
sites
Travel & Hospitality: Transportation (airlines, cruises,
etc) and destinations (hotel)
Banking & Investment: Consumer banking and
wealth management companies
Media & Entertainment: Companies providing
content and entertainment that is exclusive of
National News
Definitions –
Large Company: Selection of Adobe’s biggest clients in each
industry based on visits
Branded App: Enterprise level mobile phone or application
established by a company; does not contain social media, email,
or other native applications
Referred Traffic: Visits from an external website or source
CPM: Cost per thousand impressions
CTR: clickthrough rate (click/impressions)