“There’s an entirely new political media ecology that’s been formed because of this platform we call YouTube,” Rasiej said.

Some of McCain’s hardest-hitting video ads such as “Celeb” or “The One,” in which Obama is depicted as an over-hyped media creation, never appeared on broadcast television but only on YouTube as so-called “ghost videos.”

But, as intended by the McCain campaign, the video ads took on a life of their own, being picked up by television networks, sent around as links on the Internet and written about by bloggers and mainstream print media.

The costs of producing the Web-only videos were a fraction of the costs of a traditional television or radio advertising buy.

YouTube has not only been used as a vehicle for free campaign advertising, it’s also allowed the candidates to get their message directly to the public.

Both candidates have their own channels on YouTube—youtube.com/barackobama and youtube.com/johnmccain. (READ MORE)