Mochila and BarelyPolitical Team Up to Drive Awareness of Online Political Coverage Among Generation Y Web Users
Young Voters Driving Engagement and Increased Traffic to Online Political Sites
AUSTIN, TX and NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwire - July 17, 2008) - Mochila, the only global online media marketplace for
text, video and photo content, announced that it is joining forces with
Senator Barack Obama's biggest fan, Amber Lee Ettinger, aka Obama Girl, at
Netroots Nation 2008 in
Austin,
TX -- July 17-20, 2008 -- to promote online political coverage of the 2008
Presidential Campaign among Generation Y Web users. BarelyPolitical.com's
content, including all of the Obama Girl videos, is now featured in the
Mochila marketplace.
The tremendous interest in the election is driving high demand for
political content, especially among younger voters who are active online.
Mochila helps publishers take full advantage of this growing interest by
providing the best political content from the top Web sites
including AntiWar.com, BarelyPolitical.com, Newsmeat.com, RawStory.com,
RealClearPolitics.com, TalkingPointsMemo.com and TalkLeft.com. These Web
sites can also augment their own content with articles, photos and videos
from leading news sources including The Associated Press and Thomson
Reuters.
Young Voters Moving Online for Campaign Information
A December 2007 survey from the Pew Internet & American Life Project found
that more and more young voters are flocking online to get informed and
engage with others about the campaign. Two-thirds of Web users under 30
said they use social networking sites for campaign news, compared to only
20 percent from older age groups. Plus, 40 percent of those surveyed under
the age of 30 have watched candidate speeches, interviews, commercials or
debates online, substantially more than other demographics.
Internet savvy GenY voters have had a huge impact on this year's
consumption of online political news. According to the Pew
survey, 12 percent of online 18-29 year-olds have posted their own
political commentary or writing to an online newsgroup, Web site or blog.
By giving young voters a space to voice their opinions on the issues, they
are helping to shape the online political debate. Mochila's marketplace
neutralizes the typical two-party media view by offering content from
traditional sites and bloggers. This year is about taking in news from
several different sources and being part of the conversation. Mochila has
content from many outlets offering a rainbow of perspectives and voices.
"This is the hottest political year in generations and Mochila's publishing
partners are seeing traffic, particularly younger users, like never
before," said Keith
McAllister, CEO of Mochila. "To help our partners seize that
opportunity, Mochila provides free, ad-supported access to the world's
leading supply of all manner of political content, from Obama Girl to top
traditional media sources."
At the forefront of this year's digital election, Mochila is combining
Obama Girl's political fame with its comprehensive political content to
drive broader online interest in the campaign among young voters. Obama
supporters led all other candidates in their use of online tools for
political engagement, according to the Pew research. In fact, Obama
supporters outpace both Clinton and McCain supporters in their usage of
online video, social networking sites and other online campaign activities.
As a premier sponsor of this year's Netroots event, Mochila is
demonstrating its support of the progressive online political movement.
Mochila is hosting the Netroots Media Room for 300 members of the national
press.
ABOUT MOCHILA
Mochila's unique content syndication platform helps publishers build their
businesses, content owners find new value for their content, and
advertisers reach highly engaged target audiences. Mochila's marketplace
contains the world's richest supply of high-quality articles, photos, and
videos covering subjects from hard news to business, entertainment, sports,
and health, among many others. Mochila combines proprietary licensing
technology with a customizable suite of ad-supported widgets to provide
dynamic content solutions that drive audience and generate revenue. For
marketers, Mochila offers a unique way to buy media that efficiently
leverages trusted editorial context, quality audiences, and network
distribution. Mochila came out of stealth mode in March 2006 and today has
thousands of member organizations, including many of the world's best-known
publishers and content creators. Mochila is privately held and based in New
York, NY. For more information, visit http://www.mochila.com.
ABOUT BARELYPOLITICAL
Founded in June 2007 by Ben Relles, BarelyPolitical.com has established
itself as one of the most talked about, blogged about and watched comedy
networks on the internet. The Barely Political team has produced over 100
political satire videos including the hit viral video "I Got a Crush on
Obama" featuring Obama Girl. Since launching with that video, Barely
Political videos have been viewed online more than 100,000,000 times
globally. Other viral hits include "Hillary in Bosnia: the True Story,"
"Bill O'Reilly's Producer (The Unseen Footage)" and Obama Girl sequels such
as "Super Obama Girl." Barely Political's content has been mentioned in
hundreds of segments across national networks such as ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN,
MSNBC, VH1, BET, E! and FOX. It was named a "Web Obsession" by
Entertainment Weekly, and Barely Political videos have been discussed on
television by the likes of Stephen Colbert, Pat Buchanan, Jay Leno, Barack
Obama and John McCain. For more information, please visit
http://barelypolitical.com/.
Contact Information: CONTACTS:
Gavin Skillman or Eleni Bourinaris
LaunchSquad for Mochila
212-564-3665
Mochila@launchsquad.com