With the national political conventions starting next week, pundits and the general public, alike, are scrutinizing Barack Obama’s and John McCain’s campaign strategies.
On Thursday, Nielsen joined the fray, releasing an analysis of the candidates’ online presence and buzz, their advertising campaigns, and TV viewership for past conventions. 
Online Audience and Videos Viewed
BarackObama.com’s unique audience was twice as large as JohnMcCain.com’s in both June and July 2008.  However, in July, the number of video streams on JohnMcCain.com more than doubled, possibly due to press coverage around Senator John McCain’s ad that compared …

Barack Obama’s Olympics ads strike a positive note, while John McCain’s ads take a more negative approach, The New York Times “TV Decorder” blog reported Monday.
The story noted that one McCain ad attacking Obama aired last Friday during the Olympics opening ceremony’s “parade of nations” — a procession of smiling athletes. 
According to Nielsen, that ad accounted for 30 seconds of the total 35 minutes of commercials that aired on NBC’s U.S. broadcast of the opening ceremony.
View Nielsen’s advertising data round-up for the 2008 Beijing Olympics opening ceremony.

As the two major presidential candidates, John McCain (R-AZ) and Barack Obama (D-IL), battle state-by-state for votes, the Internet has become an increasingly critical outreach method, according to a recent report from Nielsen Online. “Campaigns are no longer dabbling online,” says Jon Gibs, vice president, media analytics, Nielsen Online. “We expect a candidate’s Web presence to be an integral part of both campaigns.”
Both campaigns are spending money on image-based ads and sponsored links in order to reach active web users over 18. Nielsen Online reports that 89% of active web …