Data shows Hillary Clinton should get personal in her campaign ads to beat Trump

Hillary Clinton should focus her ads on personal stories if she is to win against Trump with voters that are as-yet undecided on which party to choose, according to new data from advertising analytics company Ace Metrix.

The analysis showed that stories told by real citizens had the most impact among the most crucial voting group: independents.

According to Gallup polling, independent voters currently make up 37% of the US electorate.

Of the 24 anti-Trump ads that Ace Metrix analyzed, three of the five most effective among independents focused on the so-called "scam" of the now-defunct Trump University.

The video advertising analysts gave each advert an "Ace Score," based on metrics like "Attention," "Watchability," "Persuasion," "Agreement," and "Information Seeking." The score is intended to show the effectiveness of the ad, and the likelihood of it changing the way a viewer will vote.

"Bob," which showed a real citizen talking about what he saw as the fraud of Trump University had the highest "Attention" score of 687. This compares with an average of just 548. The ad was one of three in Ace Metrix's top five most effective ads by American Future Fund - a group which says it supports "a conservative and free market viewpoint." All three ads showed citizens sharing real stories about the now-defunct Trump University.

Another of the most effective ads was "Big Money," by Our Principles PAC - a Republican super PAC [political action committee] set up specifically to derail the Trump campaign. The ad made claims that Trump had employed and profited from illegal immigrants.

By contrast, Republican voters were most convinced by anti-Trump ads which focused on the billionaire candidate's stance on key Conservative issues, Ace Metrix found.

Early sparring between pro-Clinton campaigners and Trump through ads has already infuriated the Kremlin. And things look set to get even dirtier, as the two begin to divert their campaign resources against each other - assuming they both win their party nominations.

Below are the top five most effective anti-Trump ads among independents, according to Ace Metrix.