President Barack Obama has reached his 100th day in office amid generally positive sentiment according to a Nielsen Online analysis of online “buzz” surrounding the 44th President. Using our Brand Association Map to plot keywords and phrases, we demonstrate visually how the conversations have shifted between his first 100 days in office, compared to the 100 days before his swearing in.

The economy and the economic stimulus package are the isues most closely associated with President Obama’s tenure, as words like “crisis,” “trillion,” “banks,” and “tax” are nested more closely to “economy” and the President. Aside from new terms like “socialist” and “blame” found in the Map for the last 100 days, there is a surprising lack of emotionally charged or negative content about the President found in this dataset culled from millions of online messages and posts that mention Obama.

What A Difference 100 Days Makes – Other Findings

• Post inauguration, radio personality Rush Limbaugh and former President George W. Bush are now the most closely associated to Obama in online conversations. Previously, Arizona Sen. John McCain correlated most closely to Obama.
• Discussion about the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq – two topics that produced high-volume, emotionally strong online buzz — are featured more prominently, and closer together, in the most recent sample surrounded by words like “terrorists” and “troops.”.
• Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is the only foreign leader whose name emerges in correlation with Obama discussion.
• CNN is the only media outlet that appears on the map
• Obama carries little pre-election “baggage” with him into the White House. Questions about his citizenship and Kenyan roots, for example, all but disappear from the mapped discussion once he takes office.
• Change, the mantra of his campaign, has moved further out on the map.

Click images to enlarge

*About the Brand Association Map

Similar to a bulls-eye, the BAM determines phrase correlations within a data set of consumer-generated media. A leading concept (brand, issue, personality, etc) is placed in the center of the bulls-eye, and phrases that have a relationship to the leading concept appear within one of the three rings. All words/phrases on the map are significantly correlated to the center term. For ease of viewing, the words are separated on the association map into different categories, as seen in the legend. The closer a word appears to the leading concept in the center of the bulls-eye, the stronger the correlation. Also, groups of phrases that reside together on the map are placed together for relationship purposes.

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 least one minute.

158.3 million watched Election Day coverage on television. Of those, 134.8 million only watched TV coverage.

28.8 million used the Internet to get Election Day coverage from major news websites. Of those, 5.2 million only used the Internet for election coverage.

23.6 million got Election Day coverage from both TV and the Internet. Of these, 48% of these accessed online Election Day coverage only while at work; 42% got their online coverage only at home; and 10% checked online coverage both at home and at work.

Demographic Breakdown
From an overall reach perspective, adults aged 50+ were more likely than younger adults to seek Election Day news from TV or Internet — 80% of these adults were reached by one or the other medium, compared to 60% for 18-34s and 76% for 35-49s.

The demographic difference between the TV audience and the online audience wasn’t “younger” versus “older” — but rather, “middle-aged” versus “older.”

Younger adults between the ages of 18-34 made up about a quarter of the audience for both television and the Internet, but from there online coverage skewed younger than television:

-Adults 18-34 were 24.8% of the TV audience and 24.4% of the online audience.

-Adults 35-49 made up 40.7% of the online audience, but only 29.5% of the TV audience.

-Adults over the age of 50 made up 46% of the TV audience and accounted for 35% of the Internet users.

In addition, there are decided differences in demographic composition, based on whether people accessed election coverage online only, on TV only, or both on TV and online:

-Internet Only Users were the youngest: 34.5% were aged 18-34, compared to 34.0% for 35-49 and 31.5% for 50+.

-TV Only Users were the oldest: 25.3% were aged 18-34, 27.3% were aged 35-49, 47.4% were 50+.

-People who accessed Election coverage on both TV and online skewed 35-49: 22.2% were aged 18-34, 42.2% were 35-49, 35.6% were 50+.

Convergence Panel Results
A new Nielsen sample tracks both Internet and television usage with a single sample, making it possible to see how people used the two media simultaneously to check Election Day results.  This “convergence panel” shows that while simultaneous use of TV and Internet for Election Day coverage was limited, TV and online news outlets drew larger than average audiences:

-Only 1% of TV viewers on Election Night were simultaneously searching news websites — three times greater than the prior Tuesday night.

-On the other hand, 25.5% of news website visitors on Election Night were also watching TV election coverage — 2.5 times greater than the normal simultaneous traffic.

On Sunday, Nov. 2, McCain ran just 708 TV ad units in those seven states — 48% fewer than the 1,463 ad units Obama ran that day. 

But on Monday, Nov. 3, Obama’s lead in these key battleground states shrank to 79% — or a margin of 1,510 ad units, after McCain’s campaign increased the number of TV ad units it ran in those states by 168%, to 1,900 units.

In comparison, Obama’s campaign ran 3,410 ad units in Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia on Monday — a 133% increase from Sunday.

Both candidates continued to focus the bulk of their advertising on Florida, Ohio, and Pennsylvania.  On Monday, McCain ran 75% of his 1,900 ads (1,424 units) in those three states, while Obama ran 67% of his 3,410 ads (2,292 units) there.

Advertising in Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia by both McCain (1,912 units) and Obama (4,119 units) peaked on Friday, Oct. 17 (6,031 combined ad units) — just two days after their final presidential debate.

In comparison, on Monday – the last day before the election – the candidates placed a combined total of 5,310 ads, falling short of their Oct. 17 combined advertising peak by 13.5%. 

For his part, McCain came within 12 ad units (6%) of his Oct. 17 advertising peak on Monday, while Obama remained 709 units (21%) shy of his highest ad unit level.

Overall, between Oct. 6 and Nov. 3, Obama placed 133% more ad units (83,903 vs. 36,070) than McCain in Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.

Nielsen’s ad unit data shows preliminary commercial occurrences and may fluctuate from day to day, as data is updated.

Read coverage of Nielsen’s findings by Bloomberg and in The Boston Globe and the Houston Chronicle.

With the campaign season rapidly coming to an end, I’ve been thinking about how drastically my online and offline behavior has changed in the past few months. I am not alone in saying that I’ve been pretty consumed with election coverage since the heat of the primaries. Over the past year traffic to political sites and television viewership of partisan programming have jumped to historic levels. Most surprising, though, is that I’ve found my use of online video has skyrocketed from virtually none pre-election to daily viewing over the past month. I’ve been devoted to catching the one-liners, the outrageous gaffes and contradictions, and, of course, the popular parodies produced by SNL, the Daily Show, and other late-night comedy shows. Again, I am not alone. Total streams have increased dramatically since November 2007 to YouTube (115%), CNN (143%), and hulu (1928%–thank you Tina Fey and Sarah Palin). Overall, streams in the Online Video Market have grown by 50%.

During the first Gulf War, 24-hour cable news (specifically CNN) saw huge ratings increases and established the viability of cable news, which is now a staple of television for many Americans. Fifteen years later, we couldn’t imagine not being able to find news on television at any time of day. Might we look back at the 2008 presidential election as a catalyst for streaming video similar to what the Gulf War was for round the clock cable news? Only time will tell, but I wouldn’t bet against it.

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 in those states by just 3% over the previous weekend.

Between October 6 and November 2, Obama placed 135% more ad units (80,504 vs. 34,179) than McCain in Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.

To date, both McCain and Obama have advertised most heavily in Florida.  Obama ran 24,834 ads in the state between October 6 and November 2, outpacing McCain’s 8,599 ads by almost 189%.

Nielsen’s ad unit data shows preliminary commercial occurrences and may fluctuate from day to day, as data is updated.

Stay tuned on NielsenWire for daily political ad updates from the swing states.

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 number of ad units he ran in Colorado, Florida, and Ohio by small percentages.

Overall, on Thursday, McCain ran 1,814 total ad units in Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia — up 2.8% from the previous day, in which he ran 1,764 ads.

Obama continues to out-advertise McCain, but he actually reduced his ad units in these states by 0.3% overall — from 3,203 units on Wednesday to 3,194 units on Thursday, Oct. 30.

On Wednesday, Obama ran 82% more ad units than McCain in these seven states, but by Thursday that lead had shrunk to 76% – or a margin of 1,380 ad units.

Between Oct. 6 and Oct. 30, Obama placed 142% more ad units (74,557 vs. 30,821) than McCain in Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.

Nielsen’s ad unit data shows preliminary commercial occurrences and may fluctuate from day to day, as data is updated.

Stay tuned on NielsenWire for daily political ad updates from the swing 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.

Overall, on Wednesday, McCain ran 1,751 total ad units in Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia — up 9.4% from the previous day, in which he ran 1,600 ads.

Obama continues to out-advertise McCain, but in comparison, he boosted his ad units in these states by just 0.68%, overall – from 3,218 units on Tuesday to 3,240 units on Wednesday, Oct. 29.

On Tuesday, Obama ran 101% more ad units than McCain in these seven states, but by Wednesday that lead had shrunk to 85% — or a margin of 1,489 ad units.

Between Oct. 6 and Oct. 29, Obama placed 146% more ad units (71,400 vs. 28,994) than McCain in Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.

Nielsen’s ad unit data shows preliminary commercial occurrences and may fluctuate from day to day, as data is updated.

Stay tuned on NielsenWire for daily political ad updates from the swing states.

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 Tuesday that lead had shrunk to 105% — or a margin of 1,617 ad units.

Nielsen’s ad unit data shows preliminary commercial occurrences and may fluctuate from day to day, as data is updated.

Both candidates continue to run the bulk of their TV ads in Florida, Ohio, and Pennsylvania.  On Tuesday, McCain ran 74% of his 1,543 ads (or 1,142 units) in those three states, while Obama ran 72% of his 3,160 ads (or 2,269 units) there.

From Monday to Tuesday, both candidates increased their combined advertising by 7% in these three states.  

Overall, between Oct. 6 and Oct. 28, Obama placed 150% more ad units (68,102 vs. 27,186) than McCain in Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.

Read coverage of Nielsen’s findings by Bloomberg and in the Denver Business Journal and the Financial Times.

Stay tuned on NielsenWire for daily political ad updates from the swing states.

On Sunday, Oct. 26, McCain ran just 331 TV ad units in those seven states — 308% fewer than the 1,350 ad units Obama ran that day.  

But on Monday, Obama’s lead in these key battleground states shrank to 113% — or a margin of 1,528 ad units, after McCain’s campaign increased the number of TV ad units it ran in those states by 308%, to 1,353 units. 

In comparison, Obama’s campaign ran 2,881 ad units in Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia on Monday.

Both candidates continue to focus the bulk of their advertising on Florida, Ohio, and Pennsylvania.  On Monday, McCain ran 78% of his 1,353 ads (1,057 units) in those three states, while Obama ran 73% of his 2,881 ads (2,118 units) there.

Overall, between Oct. 6 and Oct. 27, Obama placed 153% more ad units (64,917 vs. 25,630) than McCain in these seven key battleground states.

Read coverage of Nielsen’s findings in The Wall Street Journal, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, The New York Times, The Boston Globe, the Los Angeles Times, and the St. Petersburg Times.

Stay tuned on NielsenWire for daily political ad updates from the swing states.

In Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, Obama placed 155% more ad units (62,022 vs. 24,273) than McCain between October 6 and October 26, 2008.

As of October 22, Obama had placed 150% more ad units (53,049 vs. 21,106) than McCain in those key battleground states.

Obama’s advertising continues to be heaviest in Florida, where he ran 18,909 ads between October 6 and October 26, outpacing McCain’s 5,702 ads by 232%. 

In recent days, McCain has closed the gap slightly, boosting his ad units by 22% in Florida – up from 4, 662 units as of October 22.  In comparison, Obama increased his ad units in the state by just 19% between October 22 and 26.

In Ohio, where McCain’s advertising has been most prolific during the last three weeks (5,800 units), Obama ran 15,227 ad units between October 6 and October 26, besting the GOP contender by 162%.

As of October 26, both candidates continue to focus their advertising on Florida (24,611 combined ad units), Ohio (21,027 combined ad units), and Pennsylvania (16,390 combined ad units).

Meanwhile, Georgia is receiving the least amount of advertising.  McCain has placed no new ads in the state since October 17, while Obama ran just 1,468 ads there during the last three weeks.

Stay tuned on NielsenWire for daily political ad updates from the swing states.