Political Advertising: Golfers to the Right, Jokers to the Left

http://www.economist.com/news/united-states/21627660-politicians-know-which-television-shows-you-watch-and-tailor-their-advertisements?zid=319&ah=17af09b0281b01505c226b1e574f5cc1

"Political Advertising: Golfers to the Right, Jokers to the Left" explores the effect of media on political advertisements.  Modern political ads aim to reach specific groups of people, and television has helped to accomplish this.  Nielsen, a TV ratings firm, began to include political questions in its TV surveys in the early 2000s, which helped to show which television programs people in different political categories tended to watch.  For example, it was found that most people who watched the golf channel were more conservative, while most people watching Comedy Central were left leaning.  This explains why 93% of political ads on The Golf Channel are for Republican nominees, while 86% of Comedy Central ads are Democratic.  Advertising is expected to get more precise as time goes on.  One potential problem is the type of media that is becoming more mainstream.  Many younger voters are tending toward sites such as Netflix and Hulu for watching TV, and there is little to no availability to advertise on these sites, and definitely not to the same extent as a standard TV commercial.  There is also the possible issue that by selecting such specific groups, it will be difficult to reach the wide range of people necessary to make a difference in an election.