Sen. Barack Obama will reportedly run a half-hour paid political simulcast on CBS and NBC, just days before the U.S. presidential election.
Obama’s simulcast would be the first to be aired by a presidential candidate since Ross Perot ran a series of 15 political telecasts during the 1992 presidential election.
Perot’s 1992 telecasts drew an average audience of 11.6 million viewers — 4.6% of all viewers nationwide. His one simulcast, carried on ABC and CBS on November 2, 1992 between 8pm and 8:30pm, attracted 26 million viewers.
| Paid Political Telecasts By Ross Perot |
Network | Start Time | Viewers (P2+) | P2+ Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PEROT PAID POLITICAL – 10/06/1992 | CBS | 8:00 PM | 16,160,712 | 6.7 |
| PEROT PAID POLITICAL – SAT-10/24/1992 | CBS | 8:00 PM | 14,530,588 | 6.0 |
| PEROT FOR PRESIDENT – 11/02/1992 | CBS | 8:00 PM | 14,015,947 | 5.8 |
| PEROT ‘92 – 10/09/1992 | ABC | 9:30 PM | 13,892,800 | 5.8 |
| ROSS PEROT – SUN-11/01/1992 | NBC | 7:00 PM | 13,874,729 | 5.8 |
| PEROT ‘92 – THUR-10/22/1992 | ABC | 8:30 PM | 13,318,749 | 5.5 |
| ROSS PEROT – 10/16/1992 | NBC | 10:30 PM | 12,855,896 | 5.3 |
| PEROT ‘92 – MON-10/26/1992 | ABC | 8:00 PM | 12,109,311 | 5.0 |
| PEROT ‘92 – MONDAY-11/02/1992 | ABC | 8:00 PM | 12,012,162 | 5.0 |
| PEROT ‘92 – SAT-10/17/1992 | ABC | 8:00 PM | 11,081,828 | 4.6 |
| ROSS PEROT SPL – 10/23/1992 | NBC | 8:00 PM | 10,575,782 | 4.4 |
| ROSS PEROT – MON-11/02/1992 | NBC | 10:00 PM | 10,517,112 | 4.4 |
| PEROT ‘92 – SUN-11/01/1992 | ABC | 7:00 PM | 10,244,811 | 4.3 |
| PEROT PAID POLITICAL – WED-10/28/1992 | CBS | 11:30 PM | 4,891,537 | 2.0 |
| PEROT PAID POLITICAL – TUE-10/27/1992 | CBS | 11:30 PM | 3,480,826 | 1.4 |
| Source: The Nielsen Company (October 9, 1992 – November 2, 1992). | ||||
Obama’s October 29 simulcast would also air between 8pm and 8:30pm. During the last four weeks, that daypart has drawn an average of 6.3 million viewers on CBS and 9.3 million viewers on NBC.
Political TV broadcasts have drawn unusually large audiences this year. The October 7 debate between Senators McCain and Obama drew 63.2 million viewers less than a week after Sen. Joe Biden and Gov. Sarah Palin set a new V.P. debate TV audience record: 69.9 million viewers.
In August and September, nearly two-thirds of all U.S. households (64.5%) — 120.1 million people age two or older — watched at least one of the political conventions.
[...] Obama ad is a coup for the democratic campaign. Not since Ross Perot’s 1992 15 telecasts drew an average audience of 11.6 million viewers and his one simulcast, carried on ABC and CBS on November 2, 1992 between 8pm and 8:30pm, attracted [...]
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