Updated 01/27: The updated %figures and chart reflect updated data relative to select West Coast markets.
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The combined overall household rating for the inauguration of President Barack Obama in the top 56 local television markets where Nielsen maintains TV meters was 30.1%.
The Raleigh-Durham market had the largest TV audience with more than 51% of households tuned in to the day’s events.

On Tuesday, January 20th, Americans will witness history with the inauguration of the 44th President of the United States, Barack Obama.  How will this event compare with other inaugurations over the past 40 years?  Nielsen has compiled data about inaugural viewership since 1969.
Key findings are:

Ronald Reagan’s 1981 inauguration drew the most viewers – almost 42 million.

First time inaugurations of two-term presidents drew higher ratings than their second (exception: Nixon in 1973).

The …

With the shift to Digital Television on the horizon, Nielsen Online has been tracking the online conversation, seeking out the top blogs talking DTV. The topic has seen a significant spike of late, starting back in October following Nielsen’s initial readiness announcement. Recently, Barack Obama’s comments about extending the DTV deadline prompted another conversation spike in early January.

The Internet played an important role in the 2008 election campaign, so it’s no surprise that on Election Day, people used multiple news sources to follow results.  By combining television and Internet samples through a process known as fusion, Nielsen provides new data showing how the two media worked together to meet the demand for election news updates.
A total of 163.6 million adults sought election coverage from either television or the Internet — or both. This shows the unduplicated or cumulative audience that used one or the other medium for at …

President-Elect Barack Obama’s “V.P. pick” text message remains the most notable example of short code marketing in the U.S.  
According to a report released Monday by Nielsen’s Telecom Practice, Americans should expect to see more text message marketing in the future.  Given the immense popularity of texting in the U.S. and abroad, it’s not surprising that marketers have ramped up their use of the medium to engage their customers — where there’s an audience, marketers are not far behind.

Nielsen’s final look at ad buys by the 2008 Presidential candidates proved one famous mantra: politics really are local.
President-elect Barack Obama placed one-and-a-half times as many spot TV ads than John McCain during the general election season (6/08 to 11/08), and almost twice as many ads dating back to the beginning of January when the primaries were just heating up.

SPOT TV ADS: June-Nov 2008

Barack Obama
419,667

John McCain
269,992

The local numbers show a much bigger discrepancy than those for national cable and network buys. Sen. McCain kept pace w/ President-elect Obama in those …

RANK
PROGRAM
NETWORK
DAYS
VIEWERS (P2+)

1
ELECTION NIGHT 08(S)-11/04/2008
CNN
TUESDAY
15,209,000

2
NFL REGULAR SEASON – L (STEELERS/REDSKINS)
ESPN
MONDAY
14,205,000

3
ELECTION NIGHT 08(S)-11/04/2008
CNN
TUESDAY
13,172,000

4
ELECTION NIGHT 08(S)-11/04/2008
CNN
TUESDAY
12,409,000

5
ELECTION NIGHT 08(S)-11/04/2008
CNN
TUESDAY
11,299,000

6
ELECTION NIGHT 08(S)-11/04/2008
CNN
TUESDAY
11,039,000

7
AMERICAS ELECTION HQ
FOXNC
TUESDAY
9,454,000

8
AMERICAS ELECTION HQ
FOXNC
TUESDAY
9,322,000

9
ELECTION NIGHT 08(S)-11/04/2008
CNN
TUESDAY
8,522,000

10
AMERICAS ELECTION HQ
FOXNC
TUESDAY
8,304,000

Source: The Nielsen Company (November 3 – 9, 2008).

If election night were a television program, its 71 million plus viewers would place it second only to the Super Bowl as the most watched event of 2008. In a year of remarkable sporting events, coverage of the Presidential qualifying rounds also drew huge ratings, as the candidates sparred in primaries, conventions, and debates in hopes of becoming the last one standing.
Sports metaphors in politics and the intermingling of the two genres are nothing new: retired athletes fill the halls of congress, Presidents throw out first pitches, and Championship teams …

Surging online activity on Election Day accompanied record voter turn-out at the polls, as voters flocked to current events and news sites to follow election results.
Web traffic to sites within the “Current Events and Global News” category was up 27% on Election Day, versus the previous Tuesday (Oct. 28), Nielsen Online reported Wednesday.
The candidates’ websites also drew healthy traffic on Election Day.  Obama’s site had 1.2 million unique visitors on Nov. 4, while McCain’s site had 479,000 unique visitors.

Rank
(by
Nov. 4 UA)
Website
Unique Audience:
Oct. 28, 2008
(in 000s)
Unique Audience:
Nov. 4, 2008
(in 000s)
% Change

1
CNN Digital Network
8,496
12,847
51%

2
MSNBC …

TV coverage of the 2008 U.S. election results drew more than 71 million average viewers Tuesday night, according to Nielsen.
Live news coverage was carried on both broadcast and cable networks, including Spanish-language networks: ABC, CBS, FOX Broadcast, NBC, Telemundo, Univision, BBC America, BET, CNBC, CNN, FOX News Channel, MSNBC, and TV One.
Nielsen’s audience estimates include primetime coverage, from 8pm to 11pm, in the Eastern and Central Time Zones and live in Mountain and Pacific Time Zones.

Audience estimates for the 8pm to 12:30am time frame, which featured Sen. McCain’s concession speech and …