During the final weekend preceding the presidential election, Sen. Barack Obama ran 77% more TV ads than Sen. John McCain (5,947 vs. 3,358) in seven key swing states: Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.
Despite trailing Obama in terms of the total number of TV ad units placed, McCain showed a much larger percentage increase in TV advertising from the previous weekend (Friday October 24 thru Sunday, October 26) to this past weekend (Friday, October 31 thru Sunday, November 2).  
McCain bumped his TV ad units up by 76% overall in the seven battleground states Nielsen tracked, while Obama increased his advertising …

Television viewing on Election Night has changed dramatically over the years, considering the expansion of technology and the number of different channels available to the average home. In 1960 for example, in the close race between John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon, most U.S. homes had only a few channels available so the Election Night returns captured virtually all the audience with more than 65% of all homes tuning in. Now with more than 40 channels available to the average home, the percentage of homes watching political coverage …

Amid an extraordinarily media-driven presidential campaign, the Internet has loomed large, influencing everything from fundraising to fact-checking.
Nielsen Online recently analyzed the online presidential campaign, examining online advertising by the candidates, Web traffic and online video viewing at both campaign’s sites, and blog buzz related to the election.

Online Advertising
Senator Barack Obama’s campaign ramped up its online advertising in mid-September. Image-based ad impressions by the Obama campaign grew 202% from September 15 to 22 — and by another 94% by September 29.
In mid-October, Obama’s campaign also stepped up its sponsored link advertising, …

With the presidential election less than a week away, both candidates are easing back their advertising in seven key swing states: Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.
McCain increased his ad units by small margins in Florida, Pennsylvania, and Virginia on Thursday, Oct. 30.  He reduced the number of ad units he ran in Colorado by 1.5%, in Georgia by 31.9%, in Missouri by 1.8%, and in Ohio by 3.8%.
In comparison, Obama boosted his ad units slightly in Georgia, Missouri, Pennsylvania, and Virginia on Thursday.  Meanwhile, he reduced the …

Senator Barack Obama’s infomercial drew 33.5 million U.S. viewers Wednesday night, according to Nielsen.
The simulcast — the first of its kind since Ross Perot ran a political telecast on the eve of Election Day in 1996 — aired on CBS, FOX, NBC, Univision, BET, MSNBC, and TV One between 8pm and 8:30pm EDT.
Perot’s 1996 telecast drew almost 22.7 million viewers.
On an average Wednesday night, the networks that aired Obama’s telecast draw a combined average of 30.3 million average viewers during that half-hour daypart.
In comparison, the final debate between the two presidential candidates …

On Wednesday, Sen. John McCain continued to increase his TV advertising in seven key swing states, while Sen. Barack Obama reduced his TV ad units in most of these states.
Wednesday evening marked the release of Obama’s half-hour infomercial.
McCain increased his ad units in Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia on Wednesday, Oct. 29.  He reduced the number of ad units he ran in Missouri by -1.7%.
In comparison, Obama increased his ad units in Florida and held his advertising steady in Georgia on Wednesday.  Meanwhile, he reduced the number of ad units he ran in Colorado, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia by slight percentages.

State
Obama:
Ad Units* (10/28/08)
Obama:
Ad Units* (10/29/08)
% Growth:
Obama …

The conclusion of the Phillies v. Rays World Series drew half of all Philadelphia households (51.8%) and almost one-third (32.4%) of all Tampa Bay households.
The game aired on FOX Wednesday night, between 8:30pm and 10:15pm EDT.  
In comparison, just 29% of Philly households and 23.4% of Tampa Bay households watched Barack Obama’s infomercial in the half hour leading up to what proved to be the Phillies-Rays’ final game.
The half-hour political simulcast — the first of its kind, since Ross Perot ran a political telecast on the eve of Election Day in 1996 — aired on CBS, …

The conclusion of Game 5 of the MLB World Series, which aired on FOX, was the number one-ranked primetime telecast on broadcast TV for Wednesday, October 29, 2008.
CBS’s “Criminal Minds” and “CSI: NY” rounded out the top three.
NBC’s and CBS’s telecasts of Sen. Barack Obama’s half-hour political infomercial also made the top 10.

Rank
Program
Network
Viewers (P2+)

1
FOX WRLD SERIES GM5 CONCL(S)-10/29/2008
FOX
19,844,000

2
CRIMINAL MINDS
CBS
13,966,000

3
CSI: NY
CBS
13,754,000

4
FOX WRLD SRS GM5 CONCLPRE(S)-10/29/2008
FOX
12,080,000

5
FOX WRLD SRS GM5 CONCLPST(S)-10/29/2008
FOX
10,538,000

6
OBAMA: PAID POLITICAL-NBC(S)-10/29/2008
NBC
9,911,000

7
OBAMA: PAID POLITICAL-CBS(S)-10/29/2008
CBS
8,602,000

8
DEAL OR NO DEAL-WED
NBC
8,337,000

9
PRIVATE PRACTICE
ABC
7,933,000

10
OLD CHRISTINE
CBS
7,607,000

Source: The Nielsen Company (October 29, 2008).

Overall, FOX won the night with an average …

The combined overall household rating for Senator Barack Obama’s Wednesday night infomercial, in the top 56 local television markets where Nielsen maintains electronic TV meters, was 21.7.
Obama’s simulcast is the first to be aired by a presidential candidate since Ross Perot ran a political telecast on the eve of Election Day in 1996.  That program was watched by 16.8% of all households nationwide.
Ross Perot also ran a series of 15 political telecasts during the 1992 presidential election.
In comparison, the final debate between the two presidential candidates received a 38.3 household rating in the top …

Yesterday, Sen. John McCain continued to close the gap between his TV advertising and Sen. Barack Obama’s in seven key swing states: Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.
On Tuesday, Oct. 28, McCain ran 1,543 ad units in those seven states — up 12.9% from the previous day, in which he ran 1,366 ads.
Obama continues to out-advertise McCain, but in comparison, he boosted his ad units by just 8.7%, from 2,906 units on Monday to 3,160 units on Tuesday, Oct. 28. 
On Monday, Obama ran 113% more ad units than McCain, but by …