Just as the offline conversation about health care reform is growing in the U.S., we are watching the online discussion grow and evolve as well. In the past month, health care reform discussions have increased by more than 1,000 percent, outpacing the online talk surrounding Swine Flu and the government’s “Cash for Clunkers” program.

President Obama is keenly aware of the important role that bloggers play in sharing information about health care reform. On July 20, the President called for bloggers to help drum up support for his health care bill, causing another jump in online conversation in the days that followed. The White House has also been using Twitter to get the message out to the public. Of the 24 tweets that have been sent out in the last two weeks, 14 have been about health care reform.

Online discussion about health care reform – like offline discussion – is highly polarized. YouTube chronicles of recent protests at various public town hall meetings (which have been at the top of the list for most-cited videos in the last week), may have created an assumption that most citizens are strongly against the reform. However, in the past week there has been a slightly larger Web presence of those in support of reform, although the split is fairly narrow and is similar to other national polls on the topic. The bottom line is that the conversation is growing on both sides of the debate, as the following chart shows.

Much of the conversation centers around sharing the latest information on the health care reform debate, with both sides adding their own spin and attempting to debunk myths and misconceptions. The discussion is also highly charged, with some bloggers engaging in one-on-one arguments that degenerate to insults and name-calling. Some of these conversations are taking a very ugly turn, as we have seen them do in person as well.

While the health care reform conversation is taking place continues to grow in online political blogs and forums, it does not represent a significant share of conversations occurring on health care sites. Although patients may have the most at stake in health care reform, the conversations about this reform tend to be more political in nature and are less prominent in health forums and communities.

As the debate rages, consumers are increasingly turning to the official White House Web site to understand the key issues. In the last month, unique visitors to the health care pages of Whitehouse.gov have increased 390 percent, from 41,000 unique visitors in June 2009 to 201,000 in July. The administration has also established a site specifically dedicated to debunking the health care reform myths, www.whitehouse.gov/realitycheck.

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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.

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.

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.

The combined overall household rating for Friday night’s presidential debate, in 55 of the 56 local television markets where Nielsen maintains electronic TV meters, was 34.7.

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

Coverage of the first presidential debate between Barack Obama and John McCain aired on ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, PBS, CNN, Telemundo, TeleFutura, BBCA, Fox News, MSNBC, and C-Span.

Previously, Nielsen reported that the combined overall household rating for the top 55 local markets was 33.2. That rating excluded households that viewed the debate on Fox News, MSNBC, and C-Span.

National ratings for Friday night’s debate will be available from Nielsen on Monday.

In August, videos at JohnMcCain.com attracted more female than male viewers for the first time, Nielsen Online reported Wednesday.

Women accounted for 58% of all unique video viewers on John McCain’s website last month — up from July and June, when they made up 48% and 37% of unique video viewers on the site.

The increase in women video viewers at JohnMcCain.com came during the same month that McCain selected Sarah Palin as his vice presidential running mate.

Barack Obama’s website drew consistently large percentages of women video viewers during the summer months, according to Nielsen. In August, 63% of all unique video viewers on BarackObama.com were women.

Video streams at BarackObama.com increased 155% in August — up from 502,000 streams in July to 1.3 million last month. During the same time period, the number of unique video viewers on Obama’s site increased 173% — from 302,000 in July to 824,000 in August, the month of the Democratic National Convention.

Video viewing at JohnMcCain.com also showed modest increases in August, according to Nielsen. Video streams grew by 16% over the previous month — from one million streams in July to 1.2 million in August. Meanwhile unique video viewers on McCain’s site increased 5% — from 452,000 viewers in July to 475,000 in August.

Most overall online video metrics, including unique video viewers, total video streams, and streams per viewer, were either flat or down slightly from July to August, according to Nielsen. Time spent per person viewing online video increased nearly 8% from July to August.

View the full press release.

Read coverage of Nielsen’s findings in Silicon Alley Insider.