Books

- Political Advertising in the United States, 3rd ed., Forthcoming, Routledge Press (with Erika Franklin Fowler and Michael M. Franz)
- Political Advertising in the United States, 2nd ed., 2021, Routledge Press (with Erika Franklin Fowler and Michael M. Franz)
- Political Advertising in the United States, 2016, Westview Press (with Erika Franklin Fowler and Michael M. Franz)
- The Persuasive Power of Campaign Advertising, 2011, Temple University Press (with Michael M. Franz)
- Campaign Advertising and American Democracy, 2007, Temple University Press (with Paul Freedman, Michael M. Franz and Ken Goldstein)
Edited Books
- New Directions in Media and Politics, 2nd edition, 2018, Routledge Press
- New Directions in Media and Politics, 2012, Routledge Press
Journal Articles
- Erika Franklin Fowler, Travis N. Ridout, Michael M. Franz, Yujin Kim, Meiqing Zhang, Breeze Floyd, and Pavel Olienikov. Forthcoming. “Television and Digital Advertising in the 2024 U.S. Presidential Campaign.” Journal of Political Marketing. doi.org/10.1080/15377857.2026.2667151
- Neumann, Markus, Jielu Yao, Michael Franz, Travis N. Ridout and Erika Franklin Fowler. Forthcoming. “Attributing Digital Election Advertising to Races and Candidates: A Multimodal Approach to Measuring Outside Group Influence.” Journal of Information Technology and Politics. doi.org/10.1080/19331681.2026.2631147
- Neumann, Markus, Sebastian Zimmeck, Jielu Yao, Erika Franklin Fowler, Michael Franz, Breeze Floyd, and Travis N. Ridout. 2025. “The Strategic Goals of US Election Ads on Social Media: A Descriptive Study of the 2022 Midterms.” Journal of Quantitative Description: Digital Media. doi.org/10.51685/jqd.2025.024
- Ridout, Travis N., Erika Franklin Fowler, Michael M. Franz and Edward Greer. 2025. “What We Don’t Know: Political Advertising on Streaming and CTV.” Election Law Journal. doi.org/10.1089/elj.2024.0074
- Erika Franklin Fowler, Meiqing Zhang, Furkan Cakmak, Markus Neumann, Sebastian Zimmeck, Pavel Oleinikov, Jielu Yao, Harry Yu, Aleks Jacewicz, Isabella Tassone, Breeze Floyd, Laura Baum, Michael Franz, and Travis Ridout. 2025. “Comparable 2022 General Election Advertising Datasets from Meta and Google.” Scientific Data.
- Ridout, Travis N., Erika Franklin Fowler and Michael M. Franz. 2025. “Understanding the Message(s): Spending and Content of Political Advertising on Television in 2024.” The Forum: A Journal of Applied Research in Contemporary Politics. doi.org/10.1515/for-2025-2002
- Fowler, Erika Franklin, Breeze Floyd, Meiqing Zhang, Yujin Kim, Travis N. Ridout, Pavel Oleinikov and Michael M. Franz. 2025. “Election Advertising on Meta, Google, and Snapchat in 2024.” The Forum: A Journal of Applied Research in Contemporary Politics. doi.org/10.1515/for-2025-2011
- Yao, Jielu, Travis N. Ridout, Markus Neumann and Erika Franklin Fowler. 2025. “Candidate Party, Gender, and the Face Mask as a Political Symbol in Campaign Advertisements.” Computational Communication Research. 7(1). doi.org/10.5117/CCR2025.1.2.YAO
- Michael M. Franz, Meiqing Zhang, Travis N. Ridout, Pavel Oleinikov, Jielu Yao, Furkan Cakmak and Erika Franklin Fowler. 2024. “Quantifying Data-Driven Campaigning Across Sponsors and Platforms.” Media & Communication. doi.org/10.17645/mac.857
- Ridout, Travis N. 2024. “Political Advertising and Data-Driven Campaigning in Australia.” Media & Communication. doi.org/10.17645/mac.8462
- Ridout, Travis N., Erika Franklin Fowler, Michael M. Franz and Taewoo Kang. 2024. “Public Perceptions of Television and Online Political Advertising.” Research & Politics. doi.org/10.1177/20531680241263
- Ridout, Travis N., Markus Neumann, Jielu Yao, Laura Baum, Michael M. Franz, Pavel Oleinikov, and Erika Franklin Fowler. 2024. “Platform Convergence or Divergence? Comparing Political Ad Content Across Digital and Social Media Platforms.” Social Science Computer Review. doi.org/10.1177/08944393241258767
- Ridout, Travis N. and Furkan Cakmak. 2024. “The Impact of New Transparency in Digital Advertising on Media Coverage.” Political Communication. 41(2): 335-343. doi.org/10.1080/10584609.2024.2303159
- Franz, Michael M., Travis N. Ridout and Erika Franklin Fowler. 2023. “Television Advertising in the 2022 Midterms.” The Forum: A Journal of Applied Research in Contemporary Politics. doi.org/10.1515/for-2023-2005
- Fowler, Erika Franklin, Michael M. Franz, Markus Neumann, Travis N. Ridout and Jielu Yao. 2023. “Digital Advertising in the 2022 Midterms.” The Forum: A Journal of Applied Research in Contemporary Politics. doi.org/10.1515/for-2023-2006
- Neumann, Markus, Erika Franklin Fowler and Travis N. Ridout. 2022. “Body Language and Gender Stereotypes in Campaign Video.” Computational Communication Research 4(1): 254-274. computationalcommunication.org/ccr/article/view/105
- Ridout, Travis N., Erika Franklin Fowler and Michael M. Franz. 2021. “The Influence of Goals and Timing: How Campaigns Deploy Ads on Facebook.” Journal of Information Technology and Politics 18(3): 293-309. doi.org/10.1080/19331681.2021.1874585
- Fowler, Erika F., Michael M. Franz, Gregory S. Martin, Zachary Peskowitz and Travis N. Ridout. 2021. “Political Advertising Online and Offline.” American Political Science Review. doi.org/10.1017/S0003055420000696
- Ridout, Travis N. 2021. “La Negativite Dans Les Campagnes Electorales aux Etats-Unis.” [Negativity in American Election Campaigns.] Questions de Communication 38: 33-52. www.cairn.info/revue-questions-de-communication-2020-2-page-33.htm
- Ridout, Travis N., Erika Franklin Fowler and Michael M. Franz. 2021. “Spending Fast and Furious: Political Advertising in 2020.” The Forum: A Journal of Applied Research in Contemporary Politics. doi.org/10.1515/for-2020-2109
- Franz, Michael M., Erika Franklin Fowler and Travis N. Ridout. 2020. “Accessing Information About Interest Group Advertising.” Interest Groups and Advocacy. doi.org/10.1057/s41309-020-00083-z
- Searles, Kathleen, Erika Franklin Fowler, Travis N. Ridout, Patricia Strach and Katherine Zuber. 2020. “The Effects of Men’s and Women’s Voices in Political Advertising.” Journal of Political Marketing. doi.org/10.1080/15377857.2017.1330723
- Fowler, Erika Franklin, Michael M. Franz and Travis N. Ridout. 2020. “The Blue Wave: Assessing Political Advertising Trends and the Extent of Democratic Advantages in 2018.” PS: Political Science & Politics. 53(1): 57-63. doi.org/10.1017/S1049096519001240
- Franz, Michael M., Erika Franklin Fowler, Travis N. Ridout and Meredith Yiran Wang. 2020. “The Issue Focus of Online and Television Advertising in the 2016 Presidential Campaign.” American Politics Research. 48(1): 175-196. doi.org/10.1177/1532673X19875722
- Karceski, Steven M., Nives Dolsak, Aseem Prakash and Travis N. Ridout. 2019. “Did TV Ads Funded by the Fossil Fuel Industry Defeat the Washington Carbon Tax?” Climatic Change. doi.org/10.1007/s10584-019-02626-z
- Rhodes, Samuel C., Michael M. Franz, Erika Franklin Fowler and Travis N. Ridout. 2019. “The Role of Dark Money Disclosure on Candidate Evaluations and Viability.” Election Law Journal. 18(2): 175-190. doi.org/10.1089/elj.2018.0499
- Rijkhoff, Sanne and Travis N. Ridout. 2019. “Your Lying, Incompetent and Selfish Member of Congress: Cynical Appeals in U.S. Senate Advertising.” Social Science Journal. 56(1): 39-47. doi.org/10.1016/j.soscij.2018.09.005
- Borah, Porismita, Erika Franklin Fowler and Travis N. Ridout. 2018. “Television vs. YouTube: Political Advertising in the 2012 Presidential Election.” Journal of Information Technology and Politics. 15(3): 230-244. doi.org/10.1080/19331681.2018.1476280
- Ridout, Travis N., Erika Franklin Fowler, Michael M. Franz and Kenneth Goldstein. Forthcoming. “The Long-Term and Geographically-Constrained Effects of Campaign Advertising on Political Polarization and Sorting.” American Politics Research. doi.org/10.1177/1532673X17721479
- Kang, Taewoo, Travis N. Ridout, Erika Franklin Fowler and Michael M. Franz. 2018. “Issue Consistency? Comparing Television Advertising, Tweets and Email in the 2014 Senate Campaigns.” Political Communication. 35(1): 32-49. doi.org/10.1080/10584609.2017.1334729
- Gotlieb, Melissa R., Rosanne M. Scholl, Travis N. Ridout, Kenneth M. Goldstein and Dhavan V. Shah. 2017. “Cumulative and Long-Term Campaign Advertising Effects on Trust and Talk.” International Journal of Public Opinion Research. 29(1): 1-22. doi.org/10.1093/ijpor/edv047
- Salamone, Michael, Travis N. Ridout and Orion Yoesle. 2017. “Judicial Norms and Campaigns: The Content of Televised Advertisements in State Supreme Court Races.” Justice System Journal. 38(1): 4-21. doi.org/10.1080/0098261X.2016.1218309
- Fowler, Erika Franklin, Travis N. Ridout and Michael M. Franz. 2016. “Political Advertising in 2016: The Presidential Election as Outlier?” The Forum: A Journal of Applied Research in Contemporary Politics. 14(4): 445-469. doi.org/10.1515/for-2016-0040
- Bode, Leticia, David Lassen, Young Mie Kim, Dhavan Shah, Erika Franklin Fowler, Travis N. Ridout and Michael M. Franz. 2016. “Coherent Campaigns? Campaign Broadcast and Social Messaging.” Online Information Review. 40(5): 580-594.
- Franz, Michael M., Erika Franklin Fowler and Travis N. Ridout. 2016. “Loose Cannons or Loyal Foot Soldiers? Toward a More Complex Theory of Interest Group Advertising Strategies.” American Journal of Political Science. 60(3): 738-751. doi.org/10.1111/ajps.12241
- Strach, Patricia, Katherine Zuber, Erika Franklin Fowler, Travis N. Ridout and Kathleen Searles. 2015. “In a Different Voice? Explaining the Use of Men and Women as Voiceover Announcers in Political Advertising.” Political Communication 32(2): 183-205. doi.org/10.1080/10584609.2014.914614
- Ridout, Travis N., Erika Franklin Fowler, John Branstetter and Porismita Borah. 2015. “Politics as Usual? When and Why Traditional Actors Often Dominate YouTube Campaigning.” Journal of Information Technology and Politics 12(3): 237-251. doi.org/10.1080/19331681.2015.1050750
- Ridout, Travis N. and Annemarie Walter. 2015. “Party System Change and Negative Campaigning in New Zealand.” Party Politics 21(6): 982-992. doi.org/10.1177/1354068813509522
- Ridout, Travis N., Michael M. Franz and Erika Franklin Fowler. 2015. “Sponsorship, Disclosure and Donors: Limiting the Impact of Outside Group Ads.” Political Research Quarterly 68(1): 154-66. doi.org/10.1177/1065912914563545
- Fowler, Erika Franklin and Travis N. Ridout. 2014. “Political Advertising in 2014: The Year of the Outside Group.” The Forum: A Journal of Applied Research in Contemporary Politics 12(4): 663-684. doi.org/10.1515/for-2014-5030
- Ridout, Travis N., Michael M. Franz and Erika Franklin Fowler. 2014. “Advances in the Study of Political Advertising.” Journal of Political Marketing. 13(3): 175-94. doi.org/10.1080/15377857.2014.929889
- Fowler, Erika Franklin and Travis N. Ridout. 2012. “Negative, Angry and Ubiquitous: Political Advertising in 2012.” The Forum: A Journal of Applied Research in Contemporary Politics 10(4):51-56. doi.org/10.1515/forum-2013-0004
- Ridout, Travis N. and Erika Franklin Fowler. 2012. “Explaining Perceptions of Advertising Tone.” Political Research Quarterly 65(1): 62-75. doi.org/10.1177/1065912910388189
- Ridout, Travis N., Erika Franklin Fowler and Kathleen Searles. 2012. “Exploring the Validity of Electronic Newspaper Databases.” International Journal of Social Research Methodology 15(6): 451-466. doi.org/10.1080/13645579.2011.638221
- Ridout, Travis N., Michael M. Franz, Kenneth M. Goldstein and William J. Feltus. 2012. “Separation by Television Program: Understanding the Targeting of Political Advertising in Presidential Elections.” Political Communication 29(1): 1-23. doi.org/10.1080/10584609.2011.619509
- Ridout, Travis N. and Kathleen Searles. 2011. “It’s My Campaign I’ll Cry if I Want to: How and When Campaigns Use Emotional Appeals.” Political Psychology. 32(3): 439-58. doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9221.2010.00819.x
- Fowler, Erika Franklin and Travis N. Ridout. 2010. “Advertising Trends in 2010.” The Forum: A Journal of Applied Research in Contemporary Politics 8(4): Article 4. doi.org/10.2202/1540-8884.1411
- Ridout, Travis N. and Jenny L. Holland. 2010. “Candidate Strategies in the Presidential Nomination Campaign.” Presidential Studies Quarterly. 40(4): 611-630. doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-5705.2010.03803.x
- Franz, Michael M. and Travis N. Ridout. 2010. “Political Advertising and Persuasion in the 2004 and 2008 Presidential Elections.” American Politics Research. 38(1): 303-329. doi.org/10.1177/1532673X09353507
- Ridout, Travis N., Brandon R. Rottinghaus and Nathan Hosey. 2009. “Following the Rules? Candidate Strategy in Presidential Primaries.” Social Science Quarterly. 90(4): 777-95. doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-6237.2009.00662.x
- Ridout, Travis N. 2009. “Campaign Microtargeting and the Relevance of the Televised Political Ad.” The Forum: A Journal of Applied Research in Contemporary Politics. 7(2): Article 5. doi.org/10.2202/1540-8884.1304
- Fowler, Erika F. and Travis N. Ridout. 2009. “Local Television and Newspaper Coverage of Political Advertising.” Political Communication. 26(2): 119-136. doi.org/10.1080/10584600902850635
- Ridout, Travis N. and Glen R. Smith. 2008. “Free Advertising: How the Media Amplify Campaign Messages.” Political Research Quarterly. 61(4): 598-608. doi.org/10.1177/1065912908314202
- Ridout, Travis N., Ashley C. Grosse and Andrew M. Appleton. 2008. “News Media Use and Americans’ Perceptions of Global Threat.” British Journal of Political Science. 38(4): 575-93. doi.org/10.1017/S000712340800029X
- Franz, Michael M., Paul Freedman, Kenneth M. Goldstein, and Travis N. Ridout. 2008. “Understanding the Effect of Political Advertising on Voter Turnout: A Response to Krasno and Green.” Journal of Politics 70(1): 262-68. doi.org/10.1017/S0022381607080188
- Ridout, Travis N. and Michael M. Franz. 2008. “Evaluating Measures of Campaign Tone.” Political Communication 25(2): 158-179. doi.org/10.1080/10584600801985409
- Ridout, Travis N. and Brandon R. Rottinghaus. 2008. “The Importance of Being Early: Presidential Primary Front-loading and the Impact of the Proposed Western Regional Primary.” PS: Political Science & Politics 41(1): 123-28.
- Franz, Michael M. and Travis N. Ridout. 2007. “Does Political Advertising Persuade?” Political Behavior 29(4): 465-491. doi.org/10.1007/s11109-007-9032-y
- Ridout, Travis N. and Rob Mellen, Jr. 2007. “Does the Media Agenda Reflect the Candidates’ Agenda?” Harvard International Journal of Press/Politics 12(2): 44-62. doi.org/10.1177/1081180X07299799
- Kaplan, Noah, David K. Park and Travis N. Ridout. 2006. “Dialogue in American Political Campaigns? An Examination of Issue Engagement in Candidate Television Advertising.” American Journal of Political Science 50(3): 724-736. doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-5907.2006.00212.x
- Goldstein, Kenneth and Travis N. Ridout. 2004. “Measuring the Effects of Televised Political Advertising in the United States.” Annual Review of Political Science 7: 205-26. doi.org/10.1146/annurev.polisci.7.012003.104820
- Ridout, Travis N., Dhavan V. Shah, Kenneth M. Goldstein and Michael M. Franz. 2004. “Evaluating Measures of Campaign Advertising Exposure on Political Learning.” Political Behavior 26(3): 201-225. doi.org/10.1023/B:POBE.0000043453.96025.a8
- Goldstein, Kenneth M. and Travis N. Ridout. 2002. “The Politics of Participation: Mobilization and Turnout over Time.” Political Behavior 24(1): 3-29. doi.org/10.1023/A:1020930604938
Book chapters
- Ridout, Travis N. and Furkan Cakmak. Forthcoming. “Campaign Advertising on Television.” In Sage Handbook of Political Marketing, Paul R. Baines, Phil Harris, Costas Panagopoulos and Denisa Hejlova, eds. Sage.
- Ridout, Travis N. and Taewoo Kang. Forthcoming. “News Coverage of Politics.” In Encyclopedia of Political Communication, Alessandro Nai, ed. Edward Elgar.
- Walter, Annemarie and Travis N. Ridout. 2021. “Voters’ Emotional Response to Negative Campaign Messages.” In Crossing Boundaries: Political Incivility in the Parliamentary, Electoral and Media Arena, Annemarie Walter, ed. Routledge.
- Fowler, Erika Franklin, Michael M. Franz and Travis N. Ridout. 2020. “Online Political Advertising.” In Social Media and Democracy, Nathaniel Persily and Joshua Tucker, eds. Cambridge University Press.
- Ridout, Travis N. and Erika Franklin Fowler. 2018. “Fake News: What Is the Influence of Fabricated Stories and Efforts to Undermine Media Credibility?” In New Directions in Media and Politics, 2nd edition, Travis N. Ridout, ed. Routledge.
- Dunaway, Johanna, Erika Franklin Fowler, Travis N. Ridout and Kathleen Searles. 2018. “Political Advertising.” In Mediated Communication, Philip Napoli, ed. Mouton de Gruyter, Handbook of Mediated Communication Science Series.
- Ridout, Travis N. and Jenny L. Holland. 2017. “The Effects of Political Advertising.” In The Routledge Handbook of Political Advertising, Christina Holtz-Bacha and Marion Just, eds. Routledge.
- Ridout, Travis N. and Annemarie S. Walter. 2015. “How the News Media Amplify Negative Messages.” In New Perspectives on Negative Campaigning: Why Attack Politics Matters, Alessandro Nai and Annemarie S. Walter, eds. Colchester: ECPR Press.
- Ridout, Travis N. 2014. “The Market Research, Testing and Targeting behind American Political Advertising.” In Political Marketing in the U.S., Jennifer Lees-Marshment, Brian Conley and Kenneth Cosgrove, eds. Routledge.
- Ridout, Travis N. and Brandon Rottinghaus. 2010. “Moving the Conversation West: How Much Attention Would the Candidates Pay to a Western States’ Primary?” In The Rise of the West in Presidential Elections, Jennifer L. Robinson and W. David Patton, eds. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press.
- Ridout, Travis N. 2007. “Television Advertising during the Presidential Nomination Season.” In The Making of the Presidential Candidates 2008, William Mayer, ed. Lanham, Md.: Rowman and Littlefield.
- Brandon Rottinghaus, Kenton Bird, Rebecca Self and Travis N. Ridout. 2007. “‘It’s Better than Being Informed’: College Aged Viewers of the Daily Show.” In Laughing Matters: Humor and American Politics in the Media Age, Jonathan Morris and Jody Baumgartner, eds. New York: Routledge. p. 279-94.