Research

Books

Book Cover: Political Advertising in the United States by Erika Franklin Fowler, Michael M. Franz, and Travis N. Ridout

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.
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.