Election Day is closing in, and Nielsen provides an update on the ad buys by each candidate in three contentious races in Virginia, New Jersey and New York.

With less than a month to go before Election Day, Nielsen analyzed the ad buys in three of the most anticipated political races this year: New York City Mayor, and Virginia and New Jersey Governor.

Nielsen’s final look at ad buys by the 2008 Presidential candidates proved one famous mantra: politics really are local.
President-elect Barack Obama placed one-and-a-half times as many spot TV ads than John McCain during the general election season (6/08 to 11/08), and almost twice as many ads dating back to the beginning of January when the primaries were just heating up.

SPOT TV ADS: June-Nov 2008

Barack Obama
419,667

John McCain
269,992

The local numbers show a much bigger discrepancy than those for national cable and network buys. Sen. McCain kept pace w/ President-elect Obama in those …

Senators McCain and Obama are each spending sizable sums of money on TV advertising during the Olympics.  But when it comes to placing display advertising online, both candidates have relatively unimpressive records, Mediaweek Senior Editor Mike Shields noted Monday in a column.
“The 2008 race has been lametastic when it comes to online advertising,” Shields wrote, adding: “McCain’s been nearly invisible when it comes to display advertising.”
Senator McCain placed 16 million online display ad impressions in June, while Sen. Obama ran 80 million impressions, Shields noted, citing Nielsen Online data. 
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