In early December 2024, the Global Strategy Group released the results of an online survey of 5,000 registered voters to understand better the election media environment for the US federal election on November 5, 2024.
Navigator is a project led by pollsters from Global Strategy Group and GBAO along with an advisory committee, including Andrea Purse, progressive strategist; Arkadi Gerney, The Hub Project; Joel Payne, The Hub Project; Christina Reynolds, EMILY’s List; Delvone Michael, Working Families; Felicia Wong, Roosevelt Institute; Mike Podhorzer, AFL-CIO; Jesse Ferguson, progressive strategist; Navin Nayak, Center for American Progress Action Fund; Stephanie Valencia, EquisLabs; and Melanie Newman, Planned Parenthood Action Fund.
Key findings
Analysis of post-election voter data reveals significant shifts in media consumption patterns, with implications for future audience engagement strategies. These shifts include a transition toward streaming platforms and social media, particularly among swing voters.
Media consumption patterns
Traditional cable news decline: The cable news landscape shows declining overall engagement, with limited regular viewership across the major networks - Fox News captures 36% of viewers, CNN reaches 31%, and MSNBC trails at 25%.
While most demographic segments consume little cable news, Trump base voters are an exception. They maintain strong Fox News engagement, with 53% of Trump base voters being regular viewers.
The broader trend shows diminishing cable news influence, with only 54% of total voters reporting regular viewership of any cable news network.
Streaming dominance: Television consumption has shifted toward digital platforms, with 55% of voters now primarily accessing content through streaming services or a hybrid combination of streaming and traditional cable.
This trend is particularly pronounced among swing voters, who show the strongest preference for streaming platforms at 61%, compared to only 42% who maintain cable subscriptions.
The movement away from traditional media consumption is evident across all demographic segments. Cable and satellite-only viewership has consistently declined, indicating a fundamental transformation in how Americans consume video content.
Social media impact: Social media engagement shows Facebook maintaining its dominant position, with 78% of users reporting daily usage, a trend that's even more pronounced among swing voters where the platform reaches 80% daily active users.
The social media hierarchy among swing voters follows a clear pattern. YouTube is second with 75% daily usage, followed closely by TikTok with 73% and Snapchat with 71%.
Notably, alternative media sources, combining social media platforms and podcasts, achieved significant penetration among swing voters, reaching 52% of this crucial demographic. This trend highlights the growing importance of non-traditional media channels in reaching key voter segments.
Communications implications
This media strategy analysis reveals fundamental shifts in audience engagement patterns. Platform prioritization is emerging as a critical factor for effective reach. Streaming platforms have become essential for broad audience coverage, while social media channels are crucial for engaging swing voters.
While maintaining relevance among specific demographic segments, traditional cable television shows signs of declining effectiveness across most audience categories, suggesting the need for a diversified platform approach.
This evolving landscape requires organizations to adapt their media strategies to prioritize digital-first platforms while maintaining targeted traditional media presence where demographically appropriate.
Content strategy to reach target audiences: This media survey reveals a complex media landscape requiring a high-low, holistic, and multi-platform approach to achieve comprehensive audience reach.
Frequent voters predominantly favor traditional broadcast and cable news. At the same time, swing voters show stronger engagement with social media and streaming services, and new voters demonstrate an overwhelming preference for social media platforms.
More specifically, Harris base voters heavily consume broadcast news (50%) and CNN (38%), while Trump base voters concentrate on Fox News (51%) and show remarkably high Facebook engagement (81%).
Swing voters split their attention between social media (45%) and streaming services (61%).
The platform-partisan divide is notable. Traditional broadcast news showed the strongest Harris support (+17 points), while digital platforms, particularly podcasts and social media, demonstrated more substantial Trump support.
Streaming services emerged as the most politically balanced medium, suggesting they offer the most diverse audience reach. This segmentation underscores the importance of tailoring media strategies to specific audience preferences while maintaining presence across multiple platforms for maximum effectiveness.
Recommendations
Caracal's strategic recommendations encompass immediate actions and long-term planning to address the evolving media landscape.
Organizations should prioritize establishing and strengthening their streaming platform presence in the short term while developing comprehensive, integrated social media strategies spanning multiple platforms.
Traditional cable presence should be maintained but strategically targeted to specific demographics where it remains effective.
Looking toward the long term, organizations need to invest in building robust streaming content infrastructure to support growing digital demand while developing platform-specific content strategies that align with each channel's unique characteristics and audience expectations.
Finally, maintaining operational flexibility and communications agility is crucial to rapidly adapting to the continuously evolving media landscape and changing voter information preferences.
You can access the Navigator survey presentation deck here.
Pro-tip: Make sure you have a professional with expertise in geopolitical communications on your team. Such a pro will help you navigate the challenges of geopolitics on your business objectives and help you confidently speak about this environment.
Caracal is here to help.
Enjoy the ride + plan accordingly.
-Marc
