April 21, 2004

WaPo Notes Growth of Political Blogads

The Washington Post examines the growing number of political candidates advertising on blogs.

There are hundreds, if not thousands, of such blogs, each offering its own, usually partisan, take on the nation's politics. But a handful have attracted somewhat sizable followings. On the left, there is, for example, DailyKos.com, TalkingPointsMemo.com and Atrios.blogspot.com. On the right, there are, among others, InstaPundit.com, RightWingNews.com and LittleGreenFootballs.com/weblog/. Experts said the sites are ripe for political advertising because they reach thousands of people who are clearly interested in politics, and whose political leanings can be readily surmised. "This is the campfire that the partisans are gathered around," Copeland said.

Moreover, while the price of the ads has increased with the candidates' demand, ads on blogs still cost only a small fraction of what it would cost to advertise on more prominent Web sites, such as WashingtonPost.com or NYTimes.com.