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Night Light | Getting Political

Night Light | Getting Political

August 15, 2024

This Election Cycle Feels Different…

I think this is the first time that we’re seeing candidates fully take advantage of the internet.

Adin Ross livestreams with Trump on Kick.

Gen Z isn’t watching traditional media outlets; they’re getting their news from TikTok, Instagram, YouTube and X (formerly Twitter). The other day, I was watching Adin Ross’s livestream with Trump, and I couldn’t think of another instance where a president or presidential candidate has appeared on a Zoomer livestream. The livestream peaked at 500K viewers on Kick, and it also became one of the most downloaded apps that day.

How exactly are politics on the internet changing?

On Monday, Trump went on Twitter Spaces with Elon Musk. Millions of people were listening in (after 45 minutes of technical difficulties), but the more interesting part to me was how many watch parties were happening across Twitch, X, and YouTube, which cumulatively had millions of viewers. It’s obvious that to be relevant in this generation, you have to figure out the important places to spend time on the internet to reach a younger voter base.

Earlier this year Trump went on Logan Paul’s Impaulsive podcast.

Whether it’s Trump going on Impaulsive with Jake Paul, J.D. Vance going on Full Send, or AOC streaming Among Us with streamers like Hasan Piker and Pokimane, it’s clear that creators are now being leveraged in the game of politics. These last few weeks I’ve felt like Trump has been putting on a masterclass in leveraging digital creators.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez livestreams among us with Hasan Piker and Pokimane during COVID | Source: Dexerto

Where could this be going in the future?

I think both sides need to put together a clear digital strategy, I’m now seeing Trump’s play out in real time with all the podcasts and livestreams he’s been on, and it’ll be interesting to see what Kamala Harris and her team will do on their end. As of now, I haven’t seen anything. It’s not a secret that the next generation of voters is on TikTok and YouTube. I’d expect to see more politicians in the future take advantage of social platforms like Trump has.

The Big Takeaway:

This election cycle has felt very different from the last one. The next generation of voters isn’t watching traditional media outlets like previous generations did, I’d expect more politicians taking a similar approach to the one that Trump has taken over the last few months.