Rocket Fuel Study Finds 36% of Registered Voters in Swing States Took to the Polls After Viewing an Online Ad

REDWOOD CITY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Rocket Fuel FUEL, a leading programmatic media-buying platform provider that uses artificial intelligence (AI) at Big Data scale to improve marketing ROI for global agencies and enterprise marketers, today announced the release of its research report, "Driving Swing State Voter Activity Through Advertising." The Rocket Fuel study of 2,832 registered voters in Colorado, Florida, Illinois, North Carolina, and Wisconsin demonstrated that voters had high ad recall, and were behaviorally influenced by the timing and messaging of digital political marketing.

Key findings of the study include:

• Digital Political Ads Deliver High Ad Recall. 42% of these swing state voters recalled seeing digital political media prior to the 2014 midterm election.
• Political Ads Drive Action. After seeing a digital political ad, 47% of voters were compelled to take some form of political action, including 36% who got to the polls to vote. Other actions were contacting a representative, donating money to a campaign and volunteering for a campaign.
• Early Timing is Key to Influencing Voter Decisions. Contrary to traditional political advertising practices, the study found that 70% of self-identified decided voters said that they committed to a candidate more than one month prior to the election, while 40% of self-identified undecideds had done so in a similar timeframe. 26% had already cemented their choice of candidate more than three months before Election Day.

"This is an exciting time for digital political advertising, as data can be leveraged to drive more donations, awareness about specific issues, and voter turnout," said JC Medici, Director of Politics and Advocacy, Rocket Fuel. "Equally revealing is the timing of persuasion messaging, and the importance of candidate-focused messaging early in the election cycle, and get out the vote messaging's behavioral influence closer to Election Day."

"Digital advertising is playing a bigger role than ever on the outcomes of elections and has emerged as a key way to create awareness and influence voters for political campaigns," said Robert Jones, Research Director, Rocket Fuel. "Knowing when voters are most susceptible to persuasion messaging allows political advertisers to better target swing voters sitting on the fence."

Methodology

2,832 registered voters in five swing states — Colorado, Florida, Illinois, North Carolina, and Wisconsin — in which Rocket Fuel delivered media prior to the 2014 midterm elections were surveyed for the study. The study included a mix of 2,479 voters and 299 non-voters in the 2014 midterm elections. It queried these people on voting frequency, voting method, media recall, political issues, and political affiliations. The study also identified a subsegment of 54 "lapsed voters," which consisted of individuals who voted in 2008 or 2010, but not in the two most recent elections.

For more information and to review the full study, please visit http://info.rocketfuel.com/digital-political-marketing.html.

Rocket Fuel does not make any warranty, representation, guarantee, express or implied, about the study. Any reliance on, or use of, the study results and/or this press release is at your own risk.

About Rocket Fuel

Rocket Fuel combines the science of artificial intelligence with the scale of Big Data to improve the effectiveness of programmatic marketing. Customers trust Rocket Fuel's Marketing That Learns® platform to achieve brand, direct-response and revenue objectives in diverse industries across North America, Latin America, Europe, and APAC. With the acquisition of marketing technology firm [x+1] in September 2014, Rocket Fuel now offers a complete digital marketing hub for the world's most innovative, always-on marketers and ad sellers. The hub includes data management, programmatic media-buying, site optimization, and predictive analytics capabilities that extend across paid and owned channels, and personalize customer interactions. Rocket Fuel operates in more than 20 offices worldwide and trades on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the ticker symbol "FUEL." For more information, please visit http://www.rocketfuel.com or call 1-888-717-8873.

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