YouTube Democratic Debate Correlates with Online Trends Strategies

Watching the YouTube democratic debate last night I started wondering, “wow”, what a great idea… but why did they do it?

Just like anything else in the world of business, these debates are purely based on the marketing of all parties involved in monetizing from them (TV ratings, etc) to the candidates themselves.

Two factors that these debates correlate with the on-going trends in search for web marketers.

1. User Engagement
2. Digital Media

What a way to get the attention of young and old America! Upload a video on to YouTube with a chance to ask a presidential candidate a question and be seen on national TV by millions.

Can you say USER ENGAGEMENT?!?

Not only did this drive thousands on to youtube.com but also to watch the debate to see if their video would make it on the air.

As of 3:27am, (and not sure if it’s real time which I don’t think it is), Google Trends shows:

Keyword: democratic debate
Hotness: Spicy

As we see the face of the digital space growing at a fast pace online, offline avenues such as television or radio can implement these channels towards their news (as we started to see with mini video’s shot with cell phones in news), shows, etc.

Do you think this debate, the first of its kind, has any affect or can form a trend in regular offline media?