Only a few short weeks have passed since Election Day, but it already feels like a lifetime ago. No longer are voters in swing states subjected to nonstop political ads, and the evening news is once again covering a host of national and international issues instead of just wall-to-wall coverage of the presidential campaign. But, Election Day was as much a starting line as it was an end point. Now is the time to reflect back on the 2012 election and look toward what’s to come in 2013.

According to Nielsen—the company that spends millions of dollars each year to examine the actual television viewing habits of the American public—98 percent of people’s video time is spent with traditional television. That means on a TV set with their remote control. Not on their laptop, not on their smartphone, not on their tablet—on a television set.