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, surpassing McCain’s sponsored link advertising for the first time.

In contrast, Sen. McCain’s online advertising push came in the weeks just before the Republican National Convention. McCain boosted image-based ad impressions by 261% between August 11 and 22, but after announcing Palin as his running mate, scaled back his display advertising. Between August 25 and September 7, McCain’s image-based online advertising dropped by 85%.

Web Traffic To Campaign Sites
Unique visitors to BarackObama.com outpaced those to JohnMcCain.com nearly two to one in September. The unique audience at BarackObama.com went from 6.1 million in August to 7.9 million in September (+31%).

During the same time period, JohnMcCain.com’s unique audience grew by 56% — from 2.7 million to 4.2 million unique visitors.

Video Viewing Via Campaign Websites
Total video streams at JohnMcCain.com surged by 175% in September — from 1.2 million streams in August to 3.2 million in September. Unique video viewers at the McCain’s site also increased 175% last month, from 475,000 viewers in August to 1.3 million in September.

In comparison, video streams at BarackObama.com saw less dramatic growth (+60%). Visitors to the site viewed 1.3 million streams in August, and 2.0 million streams in September. Unique viewers at Obama’s site also increased by 35% in September, from 824,000 viewers in August to 1.1 million last month.

Candidate Blogosphere Buzz
Online buzz about the two presidential candidates is increasing as Election Day approaches. In general, spikes in blog buzz during October coincided with the presidential and vice presidential debates on October 2, 7, and 15.

In the days leading up to and following Obama’s October 29 TV infomercial, online discussions of Obama have outpaced those referencing McCain.

Candidate Online Brand Associations
In online discussions, McCain and Obama are most closely associated with each other, followed by their running mates.

After that, McCain is most closely associated with “Sarah Palin,” “campaign,” and “debate.” Obama is also closely associated with “Sarah Palin,” as well as with “vote” and “president.”

Nielsen Online’s proprietary Brand Association Maps chart the attributes most closely associated with each candidate in online discussions. In general, BAM analysis provides an unaided, unsolicited, real-time barometer of consumer perceptions of and attitudes toward a topic discussed online.

Although McCain has tried to downplay several public relations challenges that occurred during his campaign, the terms “Katie Couric,” “Interview,” and “David Letterman” are as closely associated with him as “reform,” “economy,” and “Freddie Mac.”

Similarly, Obama’s efforts to distance himself from real estate developer Tony Rezko and Rev. Jeremiah Wright failed — in the online realm, at least. Obama is as closely associated with “Rezko,” “Plumber,” and “Wright” as he is with “economy,” “financial,” and “reform.”

View the full press release.

Read more about the media’s role in the election, in the latest issue of Nielsen’s “Consumer Insight” online newsletter.

Read coverage of Nielsen’s findings in PC Magazine, Digital Media Wire, Media Daily News, and Media Post.

The TV audience for the senators’ third meeting edged past that of their first debate at the end of September, which drew 52.4 million viewers, but was easily surpassed by the audience of 63.2 million that tuned in for the second presidential debate last week.

During the previous presidential campaign, 51.2 million viewers tuned in for President Bush and John Kerry’s third debate on Oct. 13, 2004.  (View complete historical debate ratings.)

As was also the case in 2004 for the third debate, FOX did not carry the debate because of the Major League Baseball League Championship Series.  On Wednesday night, during the Obama-McCain debate, just over 8 million viewers tuned in on FOX to watch the Philadelphia Phillies face off against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Coverage of the McCain-Obama debate was carried live on ABC, CBS, NBC, Univision, BBC-America, CNBC, CNN, FOX News Channel, MSNBC and MUN2, and on tape delay on Telemundo Wednesday night.

View the full media alert.

Read coverage of Nielsen’s findings by the Associated Press and Reuters, as well as in The Boston Globe, Huffington Post, Variety, Ad Age, TV Week, and Broadcasting & Cable.

In comparison, last week’s debate between Senators McCain and Obama — the candidates’ second – received a 42.0 household rating in the top 55 local TV markets.  The candidates’ first debate on September 26 received a 34.7 household rating in the top 55 markets.

Wednesday night’s championship baseball game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Philadelphia Phillies — aired by FOX, instead of the debate – may have impacted the debate’s ratings.  In the Philadelphia market, where 43.7% of local households tuned in for last week’s presidential debate, the debate drew 32% of local households, while the baseball game drew 32.3%. 

In the Los Angeles market, 10.2% of local households watched the game, while 29.2% of households watched the debate — down slightly from the previous debate, in which 33.7% of L.A. homes tuned in.

Among the top 56 local metered markets, the Baltimore market had the largest TV audience, with a household rating of 49.3, while the Sacramento/Stockton/Modesto, California market again had the lowest household rating: 28.1. 

One rating point equals 1% of the total TV audience in a given market.

View ratings for Nielsen’s 56 top local metered markets.

Coverage of the final debate between Senators John McCain and Barack Obama aired on NBC, CBS, ABC, BBCA, CSPAN, PBS, MSNBC, CNBC, UNIVISION, CNN, and FOX News Channel.

National ratings for Wednesday night’s debate will be available from Nielsen Thursday afternoon.

The TV audience for the senators’ second meeting easily surpassed that of their first debate, which drew an audience of 52.4 million on Friday, Sept. 26.

During the previous presidential campaign, 46.7 million viewers tuned in for President Bush and John Kerry’s second debate on Oct. 8, 2004. 

See more historical debate ratings.

Viewership among Hispanic households grew by 34% — from 8.2% of Hispanic households during the first McCain/Obama debate to 11% during the candidates’ second debate Tuesday night.

Debate viewership among White (+21%) and African American (+9%) households also increased during the second presidential debate.

Coverage of the McCain-Obama debate was carried live on ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, Telemundo, Univision, BBC-America, CNBC, CNN, FOX News Channel, and MSNBC from approximately 9pm to 10:30pm EST Tuesday night.

View the full media alert.

Read coverage of Nielsen’s findings in the Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Boston Globe, Forbes, Multichannel News, Mediaweek, and TV Week.

ABC’s special presentation of “Dancing With The Stars” claimed second place, with almost 15.1 million viewers.  ABC’s post-debate analysis of the second McCain/Obama presidential debate rounded out the top three, with just over 9.9 million viewers.

Post-debate coverage on NBC, CBS, and FOX also made the top ten.

Overall, CBS won the night with an average audience of just over 13.8 million viewers, while ABC took second place with almost 13.5 million average viewers. NBC and FOX claimed third and fourth places with roughly 7.6 million and 6.1 million average viewers, respectively. Univision and the CW followed in fifth and sixth places with average audiences of roughly 4.7 million and 2.7 million viewers, respectively.

In comparison, the first debate between Senators McCain and Obama received a much lower household rating (34.7) in the top 55 local TV markets.  Last week’s V.P. debate received a 45.0 household rating in the top 55 markets.

One rating point equals 1% of the total TV audience in a given market.

The Nashville market, where the debate was held, had the largest TV audience, with a household rating of 59.2, while the Sacramento/Stockton/Modesto, California market had the lowest household rating: 31.8.

Several TV markets in swing states also saw significant household ratings boosts over the first presidential debate.  The Milwaukee market had the largest jump, moving up 26 spots in Nielsen’s ranking of debate viewing in the top 55 markets.  Household viewing in Indianapolis and Dayton, Ohio (+21 spots in Nielsen’s ranking), Minneapolis (+17 spots), and Cincinnati (+15 spots) also increased significantly from the first to the second McCain/Obama debate.

View ratings for Nielsen’s 55 top local metered markets.

Coverage of the debate between Senators John McCain and Barack Obama aired on NBC, ABC, CBS, FOX, PBS, CNN, Fox News, CSPAN, MSNBC, CNBC, and Telemundo.

National ratings for Tuesday night’s debate will be available from Nielsen Wednesday afternoon.

So far in 2008, four books published by Sen. Barack Obama between 2004 and fall 2008 have sold a combined 912,000 copies, according to Nielsen BookScan. 

In comparison, Sen. John McCain’s five titles, published between 1999 and summer 2008, have sold a total of 116,000 copies — almost 800,000 copies less than Obama.

Between January and September 21, 2008, McCain’s top selling book, “Faith of My Fathers,” sold 73,000 copies in hardcover, paperback, and audio editions. 

Obama’s top book, “The Audacity of Hope,” out-sold McCain’s title by 639% during the same period, according to Nielsen, with sales of 540,000 copies in hardcover, paperback, audio, and Spanish language editions.

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. John Edwards drew 43.6 million viewers.

Coverage of the Biden-Palin debate was carried live on ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, Telefutura, Telemundo, BBC-America, CNBC, CNN, FOX News Channel, and MSNBC from approximately 9pm to 10:30pm EST Thursday night.

*The universe of potential TV viewers has grown significantly since 1984.

View the full media alert.

Read coverage of Nielsen’s findings by Reuters, the Los Angeles Times, The Boston Globe, the Washington Post, Al Jazeera, Ad Age, and Mediaweek.

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.

View ratings for Nielsen’s 55 top local metered markets.

Coverage of the debate between Sarah Palin and Joe Biden aired on NBC, ABC, CBS, FOX, PBS, CNN, Fox News, CSPAN, MSNBC, CNBC, Telemundo, and Telefutura.

National ratings for Thursday night’s debate will be available from Nielsen Friday afternoon.

Read coverage of Nielsen’s findings by the Associated Press and in The Wall Street Journal.

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 from approximately 9pm to 10:45pm EST.

Read coverage of Nielsen’s findings in the Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Boston Globe, The Hollywood Reporter, Media Life, and by the Associated Press.