“Engagement” refers to the amount of attention paid to a television program by the average viewer.  Nielsen measures TV engagement by questioning a representative panel of viewers about their recall of specific telecasts’ content.

Online consumer discussion of both candidates spiked before and after each of the four political debates between September 26 and October 15, according to Nielsen Online. 

References to Obama accounted for 1.7% of consumer discussions on blogs and Internet message boards during that period, while mentions of McCain accounted for approximately 1.2% of the chatter on blogs and online boards. 

In contrast, voters who watched the presidential debates were considerably less engaged with the second and third debates, compared to the first one, according to Nielsen IAG.

The decline in audience engagement for the latter two debates was driven mostly by uncommitted voters, who had 21% lower engagement in the second and third debates, compared to the first one. Those voters already committed to Obama or McCain showed an 8% decline in engagement in the second and third debates, Nielsen reported.

On average, the debates captured somewhat more attention from those already committed to a candidate, rather than undecided voters.

Voters who watched the vice presidential debate were less engaged than voters who watched the first two presidential debates — but more engaged than those who watched the third presidential debate, according to Nielsen.  As with the presidential debates, the VP debate captured more attention from those already committed to either Obama or McCain than from undecided voters.

Overall, men were much more engaged than women with all three presidential debate broadcasts (+11% on average) and the VP debate (+16% on average).

The highest overall engagement levels came from McCain-committed voters during the first presidential debate.

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.

According to a Nielsen analysis released Tuesday, “hockey moms” — defined as women ages 25 to 54 who live in homes with children and who watched at least six minutes of the most recent Stanley Cup Finals on NBC – were more likely than average moms to watch the first two debates of the 2008 election.

Last Thursday, Sen. Joe Biden and Gov. Sarah Palin’s V.P. debate drew 23.8% of all mothers (ages 25 to 54), while 33% of those women defined as “hockey moms” tuned in.  Overall, “hockey moms” were 38.7% more likely than average moms to have watched the V.P. debate.

In comparison, the first debate between Senators McCain and Obama, on Sept. 26, drew 16.5% of all mothers (25 to 54).  Among those classified as “hockey moms,” however, 21.3% tuned in to the debate, making “hockey moms” 29.1% more likely than average moms to have watched the McCain and Obama’s debate.

Read coverage of Nielsen’s findings in the Boston Herald and Broadcasting & Cable.

On average, 41% of all homes watched the V.P. debate last Thursday — up one-third from the first presidential debate the previous Friday night, which reached an average of 31% of all households.

Of all households, 39% watched neither debate, while 30.3% tuned in to both.  11.2% of all homes tuned in to the presidential debate only, and 19.5% tuned in to just the V.P. debate. 

Both debates drew audiences made up mostly of white viewers with higher levels of income ($100,000+) and education (4+ years of college).

Older viewers (age 55+) made up the largest portion of the TV audiences for both debates (42% – 46%).  However, the Biden-Palin V.P. debate (median age: 52) drew a slightly larger portion of younger viewers than the first Obama-McCain debate (median age: 54).

Homes headed by African Americans made up a larger portion of the presidential debate audience (14.0%) than the V.P. debate audience (12.3%).  African American homes normally account for 12.2% of all U.S. TV households.

Overall, Hispanic viewers were less likely to watch the debates.  Hispanic households, which account for 11.1%  of all TV households in the U.S., made up just 6.3% to 6.5% of the combined audience for the two debates. 

A closer look at the minute-by-minute ratings for both debates reveals few peaks or drop-offs in household viewing, which remained steady throughout both the telecasts.

Read the full report — and stay tuned during the presidential debates for more Nielsen TV audience analyses.

Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan’s October 28, 1980 debate claimed the largest television audience — 80.6 million viewers — since 1976, the first year that Nielsen collected TV viewership data for presidential debates. 

George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and Ross Perot’s October 15, 1992 debate (69.9 million viewers) and Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter’s September 23, 1976 debate (69.7 million viewers) round out the top three.

George H. W. Bush and Michael Dukakis’s 1988 debates and Ronald Reagan and Walter Mondale’s 1984 debates also made the top 10.

In terms of Nielsen household TV ratings, Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy’s presidential debates in 1960 dominate Nielsen’s top 10 ranking. 

The two candidates’ October 13, 1960 debate, which drew 61% of all U.S. television households, claimed the top household rating of any presidential debate. 

Nixon and Kennedy’s infamous September 26, 1960 debate — the first-ever televised presidential debate — ranked second, with 59.5% of all American TV households tuning in.   

Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan’s October 28, 1980 debate was the only non-Kennedy vs. Nixon debate to crack the top five. 

All three of Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter’s 1976 debates also ranked among the top 10 televised presidential debates, in terms of household ratings.

View complete Nielsen ratings for all televised U.S. presidential and vice presidential debates from 1960 to present.