The Mass Medium Poised to Elect the Next U.S. President

Anyone familiar with my work knows that I write prolifically about the cyclopedic economic impact of mass media innovation.

Although it is not widely cited as a leading indicator of stock market growth and economic expansion, but as the figures certainly corroborate, some of history’s greatest bull markets and most prospering economies have all coincided with the invention of a new broadcasting medium.

It does not take an economics degree to understand why the U.S. economy would flourish in the years following the emergence of a new invention of mass media.

With consumer spending comprising approximately 70% of the U.S. Gross Domestic Product, any catalyst that fuels consumption is a win for GDP. During the last 100 years, mass media innovation has proven to be a very potent consumption stimulus.

In addition to improving marketing ROIs, each technological advancement made in mass media, since the advent of the radio, has progressively bolstered consumer engagement. Without fail, when consumers are in buying mode then corporate sales are increasing, stocks are rising, businesses are hiring, and any consumption-heavy GDP is expanding.

Of course, the media’s influence stretches far beyond the economy - for the simple reason that goods and services are not the only items that consumers purchase.

Consumers also buy into ideology.

In a free country, these consumers of ideology go by another name. They are simply called, voters.

All products - whether it be the hottest new fashion trend or a vision for a nation - rely on mass media for marketing.

That is why the very same mass media innovations that have enabled companies to scale, markets to rise and economies to flourish have also helped shape the political landscape. It should come as no surprise that, since the emergence of the radio, the U.S. presidency has been consistently awarded to the candidate most adept at leveraging the newest mass medium.

FDR mastered the radio. It not only allowed him to reach hordes of voters in the comforts of their own home, the sightless medium enabled FDR to conceal the severity of his physical deterioration from the public.

While FDR had a physique for radio, JFK had one for TV. The first presidential debate between Kennedy and Nixon, which was televised to 70 million, proved to be a pivotal moment in the 1960 election. Although Nixon sounded well on the radio, he looked pale and haggard on television - in stark contrast to Kennedy’s confident, poised and polished appearance. That debate changed the trajectory of the election, allowing JFK to narrow Nixon’s lead and ultimately win the presidency.

In 2008, Obama proficiently leveraged facebook and MySpace to not only galvanize younger demographics, but also to crowdfund micro-donations.

As I wrote in a 2017 article, “Obama’s use of social networks was the most genius exploitation of mass media in the history of politics – that is until 2015, when a businessman entered the political arena and changed the game once again.”

Those who criticized Trump for tweeting never grasped the sheer brilliance of it. By focusing on tweeting, Trump wasn’t just sharing his message in an unconventional manner, he was revolutionizing the economics of campaign financing.

Tweeting enabled Trump to bypass marketing expenses and take his message directly to the masses. In doing so, Trump was touching far more voters with one free 140-character tweet than his political rivals were reaching with hundreds of millions of dollars in television ads. So, while his competition was squandering money on commercials that no one was watching, Trump was simultaneously building a base as well as a war chest of cash.

In fact, Trump’s media game plan proved so masterful that the only way to outmatch him was by revoking his social media accounts altogether. There is a cost, after all, to using complimentary social media platforms. Deplatforming, as it turns out, is the price one pays when relying on centralized platforms, controlled by those with dissenting political views.

But as centralized social media platforms become relics of the past, deplatforming is about to become a lost art.

This brings me to the present day, where another presidential campaign season is mounting at the precise moment that the next evolution of mass media is rising. Once again, the candidate who best harnesses it will gain or regain keys to the White House.

This next progression of mass media that will help elect the America’s next chief executive is unlike any that has come before.

It is called web3, also known as decentralized media. And it possesses the power to eclipse the achievements of every previous mass medium combined.

What makes web3 so extraordinary is that it is the first mass media of the people, by the people, for the people.

Since the emergence of the radio, broadcasting tycoons and tech oligarchs have profited handsomely off the eyeballs of media consumers - raking in over $10 trillion in advertising revenue in the U.S. alone. Decentralized web3, by enabling consumers to reclaim ownership of their own eyeballs, changes both the power structure as well as the economics of marketing and advertising.

Owning their own eyeballs allows consumers to have a direct relationship with the brands vying for their attention. This poses an unprecedented opportunity for consumers to share in the advertising revenue generated from everything that they consume – including what they watch, listen to, search for and read.

This paradigm shift in revenue flow will have epic implications. It will completely obsolete centralized media platforms that fail to allow for consumer compensation, thereby ensuring that consumers - not the media and/or tech moguls – are the ones in charge of the narratives and advertisements that they receive.

Web3 also makes it easier than ever to create, distribute and monetize content. With content being as lucrative for individuals to produce as it is for them to consume, the number of content creators in all fields, including politics, will continue to proliferate. Thanks to web3, more voters will be engaged in the political process than ever before.

Without centralized media entities overseeing the consumption or production of content, it becomes virtually impossible for dissident voices to be muzzled or for propaganda to influence the political discourse.

With content control reallocated to the people, web3 ensures that the candidate with the most resonating message is favored. However, it is the fundamental shift in ad revenue where web3 lays the groundwork for candidates to, once again, revolutionize the economics of campaign marketing.

While web3 will provide so many opportunities for candidates to amplify their following and strengthen their support, it will be the candidate with the best web3 strategy who will be inaugurated on January 20, 2025.

And, as history has shown, it will also be this administration that benefits from the economic boom being fueled by this next great innovation in mass media.