With the election campaigning period nearing an end, political parties in Telangana have gone tech-savvy with Youtube campaigning. Almost 80% of the Youth in Telangana are evident viewers of popular video streaming app Youtube. The Think-tanks of political parties have rightly focused on this and are working hard to tap on Youth Voters through adverts on Youtube.
Earlier, political parties used to advertise on Televisions to gain momentum. But with changed dynamics due to digitalisation, it has become more economical for parties to focus on Youtube campaigning more than the TV ads. It is the BJP which started the Youtube trend in Telangana polls through advertisements which criticised the failures of the TRS government in early November.
It was soon followed by Congress with a focus on sharp content. However, with the campaigning period nearing an end, it is the TRS which has successfully excelled other parties through aggressive Youtube campaigning. Several Twitters users have reported this online stating that almost every video on Youtube is presenting a TRS advertisement – ‘calling to vote for TRS’. Even we have personally checked this and are amused at the aggressiveness of the ads. The same advert appeared more than twice while we watched a single video which lasted about 4 minutes!
Though, the aggressive campaigning provides TRS with the acknowledgement of focused planning we should not forget that too much could become too bad!. Most of the Youtube viewers in Telangana easily falls in the bracket of unemployed candidates, a sector where the TRS government has failed to fulfil its promises. Also, too many ads may irk the viewers thereby, creating more damage than political gains!!