Google seeks campaign money by touting Net as prime info source

Google has some news. Voters in the U.S. get their information about candidates and issues via the Internet. That's not really news, but Google would like you to know that one third of people nationwide see campaign ads on the company's YouTube video sharing service that they haven't seen on TV. According to a 2011 survey by the Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project, 71 percent of adults have used YouTube and similar sites, and 28 percent visited them daily.

The infographic above is part of Google's "Four Screens to Victory" campaign, which makes the case that the television screen is decreasing in importance, citing a study that one third of likely voters had not watched TV in the last week. On the other hand, the three Internet-connected screens -- smartphone, tablet, and PC -- are becoming increasingly influential in how people get information about elections. Google's research showed that, unsurprisingly, 68 percent of voters use the Internet as their primary source for information on issues and candidates.

The campaign primarily touts Google's advertising power to political organizations, stating that it can "accelerate and amplify the impact of your television ads and help create a multi-platform marketing strategy that reaches voters where they spend time." Google will tell you that four-screen campaigns are 48 percent more effective in driving campaign awareness than just a TV ad. It's another example of how the Internet is transforming the economics of industries, in this instance political campaigning and elections, and Google is there to collect.