Study: GOP convention Internet audience disappointing

Industry watchers who are looking at the combination of the presidential conventions and the Internet as a harbinger of things to come might be disappointed, according to a recent Harvard University study on Web traffic.

Despite the hype about the "e-convention" and the plethora of Internet media who provided coverage of the Republican National Convention in Philadelphia, only 106,000 people logged onto the GOPConvention.com's Web site during the week. Political portals, Voter.com and Speakout.com, also did not draw large audiences, with traffic that totaled 120,000 and 146,000 hits respectively, according to the study, sponsored by the Joan Shorenstein Center on Press, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard.

Meanwhile, 66 percent of those who went online to look for political information said they only spent "a few seconds" paying attention to the GOP convention on the Internet. "It doesn't surprise me. Who would want to pay attention to a ballgame when you already know the winner?" said Guy Kawasaki, CEO of Garage.com, who participated on a panel discussion on the Internet and democracy Sunday leading into the Democratic National Convention here this week. Harvard sponsored the panel discussion.

"I think it says something about the content of the Republican convention," said Esther Dyson, chairwoman of EDventure Holdings, in reaction to the lack of broad Internet interest regarding the GOP convention.

The GOP convention lacked drama and won accolades from supporters for the smoothness and unity of message that was conveyed during the week, panelists said. And without drama there was little incentive for people to tune in, they added.

"When it comes down to it, the Internet is still tangential to most other mediums," said Joe Klein, Washington correspondent for the New Yorker magazine.

Time Warner CEO Gerald Levin, who also sat on the Harvard panel, questioned the accuracy of the study, saying that the report did not take into account the fact that the Internet has a broader reach than can be measured by pure traffic numbers.

At a separate panel on the Internet and politics held by the Freedom Forum, former White House press secretary Mike McCurry said people will only begin to take notice of the Internet as a source of political information when it can define a candidate better than any other medium.

"Campaigns are about defining choices for voters, and the Internet hasn't yet reached the point where it is defining choices, but it is going that way," said McCurry, who is now advising Grassroots.com, a Web portal that is providing political tools to candidates and advocacy groups.

Meanwhile, Democrats prepared to offer its own version of an "e-convention" with video streaming, 360-degree camera coverage and online chats on its Web site.