• Join Puck

    Directly Supporting Authors

    A new economic model in which writers are also partners in the business.

    Personalized Subscriptions

    Customize your settings to receive the newsletters you want from the authors you follow.

    Stay in the Know

    Connect directly with Puck talent through email and exclusive events.

  • What is puck? Newsletters Authors Podcasts Events Gift Puck Careers

The Media Is Not the Message

Despite the historic nature of this unprecedented topsy-turvy election, a staggering percentage of persuadable voters are not tuning in—and they’re definitely no longer tuning in on linear TV, making it harder than ever for the campaigns to find them.

kamala harris dnc video
Voters, of course, have been spending more time with their mobile screens than their television screens for years—even if some political operatives in Washington willfully pretend otherwise. Photo: Jeenah Moon/Bloomberg/Getty Images
Peter Hamby
September 10, 2024

Lost in the hype and hoopla surrounding this summer’s big campaign events—the CNN debate in Atlanta, the Republican and Democratic conventions, tonight’s critical showdown in Philadelphia between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump—is the fact that fewer Americans than ever are tuning in. Back in July, around 50 million Americans watched Joe Biden sleepwalk to disaster during his debate against Trump. That’s a big number for the TV networks in 2024, sure, but that audience was noticeably smaller than the one that watched the first presidential debate between Biden and Trump back in 2020—by more than 20 million viewers.