President Obama’s recent health care address restored some confidence in his handling of the topic according to a focus group polled by CBS News in conjunction with Nielsen.

As the debate on health care in the U.S. continues, President Obama detailed his vision for health insurance reform in his second address to a joint session of Congress…

Julie Enzweiler, Automotive Research Director, Online Division

Despite the negative online buzz that the Obama administration’s “Cash for Clunkers” program received pre- and post-launch of the program, it appears to have been incentive enough to spur many consumers back into their local dealerships and to the Web to discuss and to research both the rebate and the automotive manufacturers themselves. In the two weeks following the launch, overall buzz for the government program increased 123 percent. However, in the last few weeks we have seen buzz levels begin to decline.

Melissa Davies, Healthcare Research Director, Online Division
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 …

Is the President Seeking to Connect with Mainstream America by Choosing Bud Light?
The White House announced that the President will be drinking Bud Light at tonight’s much-publicized “Beer Summit.” Consumer and media research firm Scarborough Research shows that Bud Light is also the beer choice for politically mainstream Americans. Bud Light drinkers (ages 21+) have no distinct political profile. They are just as likely as all drinking-age Americans to consider themselves Democrat, Republican, or Independent, and are average for voting in presidential, statewide and local elections. Bud Light drinkers are …

Draws 4.1 Million Fewer Viewers Than Third Press Conference
In a continued push for congressional support of health care reform President Obama held his fourth prime time press conference on Wednesday July 22, 2009. The conference was carried live from 8:00PM to approximately 9:00PM on 11 networks. The sum of average audience for those networks was 24,682,519 viewers and had a combined household rating of 16.3. The networks carrying the press conference were ABC, CBS, NBC, Univision*, Telemundo*, BBC-A, BET, CNBC, CNN, FOX News Channel, and MSNBC.

Viewing to last night’s press …

The breaking news of Michael Jackson’s sudden death dominated the web yesterday (and today), causing spikes in traffic and overwhelming social networks such as Twitter and Facebook with bursts of information and updates from millions of users. In comparison, discussions of Jackson far exceeded those of the swine flu scare as well as the inauguration of President Obama.

Nielsen Buzzmetrics analysis shows that more than 16% of tweets over the past 24 hours reference Michael Jackson, and less than 2 percent of Tweets mention Farrah Fawcett and Iran.

A Topper of Charts …

Last night’s primetime press conference to mark Barack Obama’s 100th day in office was viewed by 28.8 million people in the U.S., according to The Nielsen Company. The event pulled an 18.8 household rating on 10 TV networks.
Viewership for the presser was 29% less than the President’s last press conference on March 24, which was seen on 11 networks. President Obama’s first primetime press conference was watched by 49.5 million U.S. viewers on eight networks.
PRESIDENT OBAMA’S PRIMETIME PRESS CONFERENCE RATINGS

DATE
# OF NETWORKS
HH RATING
HH SHARE
# OF VIEWERS P2+ (in millions)

4/29/2009
10
18.8
27
28.8

3/24/2009
11
25.9
45
40.4

2/9/2009
8
30.8
47
49.5

source: The Nielsen Company, 2009

Networks airing …

Maya Swedowsky
President Barack Obama’s inauguration marked the beginning of a new era, which included the launch of a dramatically overhauled White House Web site. President Obama wasted no time ensuring that the official site, WhiteHouse.gov, represented a continuation of his campaign’s masterful use of the Internet and social media.
During President Obama’s first month in office, it seemed like the overhaul had paid off with unique visitors to WhiteHouse.gov reaching an all-time high. However, as the novelty of having an Internet-savvy administration seemed to wear off, so did the visitation rate, …

From the moment President Obama began his race for the White House, he became known as the candidate who understood and knew how to use the Web.  Since being elected, he has continued to use the Internet as a vehicle for connecting with people. One of the first acts of the new administration was to create a revamped Web site to help them stay engaged with the public. Knowledge and interest in the “new” WhiteHouse.gov has continued to grow since its inception in January, and video viewing has been an …