With the U.S. financial crisis hanging in the balance, the first debate between Barack Obama and John McCain – originally scheduled for Friday — has taken on unusual importance.  But, how will this first presidential duel of the 2008 election compare with the most-watched debates of the last half-century?
Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan’s October 28, 1980 debate claimed the largest television audience — 80.6 million viewers — since 1976, the first year that Nielsen collected TV viewership data for presidential debates. 
George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and Ross Perot’s October 15, 1992 debate (69.9 …

On Tuesday night, 69.9 million viewers tuned in to watch the sole vice presidential debate between Joe Biden and Sarah Palin.
The Biden-Palin matchup set a new V.P. debate TV audience record, beating the previous high of 56.7 million viewers set by the debate between Rep. Geraldine Ferraro and then-V.P. George H.W. Bush in 1984*. 
Biden and Palin’s debate also surpassed the first presidential debate between Barack Obama and John McCain, which drew an audience of 52.4 million last Friday night.
During the last presidential election in 2004, the vice presidential debate between V.P. Dick Cheney and Sen. …

The combined overall household rating for Thursday night’s vice presidential debate, in 55 of the 56 local television markets where Nielsen maintains electronic TV meters, was 45.0.
One rating point equals 1% of the total TV audience in a given market.
The Baltimore market had the largest TV audience, with a household rating of 59.1, while the Los Angeles market had the lowest household rating: 34.4.

CBS’s “Survivor: Gabon” beat out post-debate analyses of the vice presidential debate between Sarah Palin and Joe Biden to claim the slot as the most-watched primetime telecast on broadcast TV for Thursday, October 2, 2008.  Almost 13.1 million average viewers tuned in to watch the second episode of the new “Survivor” season.
Post-debate coverage on ABC and NBC rounded out the top three, with 9.778 million and 9.777 million average viewers, respectively.
CBS and FOX’s post-debate coverage also made the top ten, drawing almost 8 million and just over 4 million average viewers, …

Despite finger-pointing from both sides, Barack Obama and John McCain’s presidential campaigns have run almost the same number of negative local campaign ads, Nielsen Monitor-Plus reported Thursday.
From June 3, when the primaries ended, through Sept. 7, the most recent reporting period, the McCain campaign ran 76,192 negative ads against Obama.  During the same time period, the Obama campaign placed 75,246 negative commercials against McCain.
Negative advertising by both candidates and the “527” groups that support them has concentrated in the top battleground states, led by Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.

As previously reported, 31.6% of all television households nationwide tuned in for John McCain and Barack Obama’s first presidential debate.
A closer look at the minute-by-minute TV ratings, released Wednesday by Nielsen, reveals few peaks or drop-offs in household viewing during Friday’s debate.

 
 
 
 
 
 
According to Nielsen’s analysis, after an early ramp-up in the debate’s first five minutes, the percentage of households watching the debate held steady throughout the remainder of the telecast. 
The percentage of TV households watching the McCain-Obama debate peaked at 32.9% at 9:38pm EST Friday night. 
Debate viewing dropped off significantly after …

According to data from across 11 networks, the first presidential debate on September 26 between John McCain and Barack Obama drew 52.4 million viewers.
The TV audience for the first presidential debate of the 2008 election was roughly 16% smaller than the audience for the first debate between President Bush and John Kerry during the 2004 election, which drew 62.5 million viewers on September 30, 2004. See more historical debate ratings.
ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, Telefutura, Telemundo, BBC-America, CNBC, CNN, FOX  News Channel, and MSNBC aired live coverage of the McCain/Obama debate …

During the first presidential debate on September 26, Barack Obama’s comments on oil independence, health care, the Iraq War, and Al Qaeda drew the most positive responses from a panel of uncommitted, registered voters who allowed CBS and Nielsen to capture their real-time reactions to the first presidential debate Friday night.
As they watched the debate, panel members turned a dial between 0 and 100 to indicate their reactions to the candidates’ discussion. 100 indicates a “very positive” response, 0 corresponds with a “very negative” response, and 50 is neutral. Nielsen …

Barack Obama’s campaign made political history when it used text-messaging to announce Joe Biden’s V.P. selection to 2.9 million mobile users.  Obama’s campaign also maintains a mobile website with news, video, and downloads.
In contrast, John McCain’s campaign has largely eschewed mobile marketing.  But that may just be the right strategy, according to Nielsen Mobile, which reported Monday that mobile advertising is a more efficient way to reach Democrats, rather than Republicans.
As of the second quarter of 2008, mobile media of all types were slightly more popular among Democrats, who were …

ABC’s post-debate analysis of Barack Obama and John McCain’s first presidential debate was the top-ranked primetime telecast on broadcast TV for Friday, September 26, 2008.  The show drew an average of almost 8.3 million viewers.
CBS’s “The Mentalist” claimed second place, with almost 7.9 million average viewers, while NBC’s post-debate coverage rounded out the top three, with just over 7.1 million average viewers.
Post-debate analysis on CBS (6.1 million average viewers) and FOX News (3.9 million average viewers) also made the top ten.

RANK
NAME
NETWORK
VIEWERS (P2+)

1
VOTE2008: ANALYSIS-FRI(S)-09/26/2008
ABC
8,272,000

2
MENTALIST, THE-FRIDAY SP(S)-09/26/2008
CBS
7,896,000

3
DECISION ‘08:PRES ANALSYS(S)-09/26/2008
NBC
7,124,000

4
20/20 SP EDITION-9/26(S)-09/26/2008
ABC
6,891,000

5
CAMPAIGN ‘08-DEBATE …