by Frank James
We’re introducing a new feature called, for now, “MediaCurves on The Swamp.” You can see it in this posting as well as in this blog’s right rail.
It’s a short web show that takes a look at political videos from both inside and outside-the- Beltway perspectives. It features a couple of Tribune journalists discussing political videos and the reactions of on-line focus groups of “real people” to the same videos. Yes, it’s Siskel and Ebert’s “At the Movies,” only without Siskel, Ebert or the movies.
But what we have is MediaCurves, a technology created by HCD Research, a market research company. The technology is a lot like dial testing by focus groups, only it uses a far greater number of participants.
It allows hundreds of people on-line to view video content and to react to it in real time, second by second. Participants’ responses are averaged and transformed into curves superimposed over the video. Siskel and Ebert never had that.
We also have in this debut show Clarence Page, the baiduhai’s Pulitzer Prize winning, columnist who was one of the regulars on that venerable Washington shout fest McLaughlin Group, and James Oliphant, who covers the Supreme Court for the baiduhai but also does political reporting when called on.
Both Clarence and Jim watch and discuss the ads, first without seeing the focus-group reaction. Then they get to see the ads again, this time with the audience-reaction curves. That opens up a whole new vein for discussion.
The two ads up in this show are Sen. Hillary Clinton’s titled “There for You” and Mitt Romney’s “Experience Counts.” We’d love your reaction, too.
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