Whether you voted for Barack Obama or John McCain, a recent Nielsen Homescan analysis shows notable differences in the shopping habits and holiday spending expectations of the American voter. The panel’s voting intent (55% Obama / 45% McCain) was similar to the actual nationwide election results (53% / 47%) and mirrored the state-by-state victories in all but three of the 48 contiguous states.
Travel And Spend
Nielsen Homescan panelists who favored Obama, tended to make more frequent trips across all outlets combined and in traditional retail channels, outmatched only by McCain voters …

Fall TV premieres, coupled with coverage of the presidential election and the financial crisis, boosted online video viewing at all four networks’ websites in September.
NBC.com, which grew 312% month-over-month, saw the largest September increase in video viewers, followed by FOX Broadcasting and ABC.com, with 165% and 105% growth, respectively, Nielsen Online reported Thursday.

Rank
(by UV) 
TV Network
Web Property
Unique Viewers
(in 000s)
% Change:
Unique Viewers
(Aug. – Sept. 2008)

1
NBC.com
5,557
312%

2
ABC.COM
5,246
105%

3
CBS Television
3,296
38%

4
FOX Broadcasting
1,371
165%

Source: Nielsen Online, VideoCensus (August – September 2008).

Note: Data includes progressive downloads and excludes video advertising.

“A combination of series and season premiers, political news and parodies, and coverage …

Surging online activity on Election Day accompanied record voter turn-out at the polls, as voters flocked to current events and news sites to follow election results.
Web traffic to sites within the “Current Events and Global News” category was up 27% on Election Day, versus the previous Tuesday (Oct. 28), Nielsen Online reported Wednesday.
The candidates’ websites also drew healthy traffic on Election Day.  Obama’s site had 1.2 million unique visitors on Nov. 4, while McCain’s site had 479,000 unique visitors.

Rank
(by
Nov. 4 UA)
Website
Unique Audience:
Oct. 28, 2008
(in 000s)
Unique Audience:
Nov. 4, 2008
(in 000s)
% Change

1
CNN Digital Network
8,496
12,847
51%

2
MSNBC …

TV coverage of the 2008 U.S. election results drew more than 71 million average viewers Tuesday night, according to Nielsen.
Live news coverage was carried on both broadcast and cable networks, including Spanish-language networks: ABC, CBS, FOX Broadcast, NBC, Telemundo, Univision, BBC America, BET, CNBC, CNN, FOX News Channel, MSNBC, and TV One.
Nielsen’s audience estimates include primetime coverage, from 8pm to 11pm, in the Eastern and Central Time Zones and live in Mountain and Pacific Time Zones.

Audience estimates for the 8pm to 12:30am time frame, which featured Sen. McCain’s concession speech and …

ABC’s 9pm to 11pm coverage of the U.S. presidential election results was the top-rated primetime telecast on Election Night, Tuesday, November 4, 2008.
NBC’s 8pm to 11:30pm coverage of the voting results claimed second place, and ABC’s 8pm to 9pm Election Night coverage rounded out the top three.
Election returns coverage on CBS, FOX, and Univision dominated the rest of the top ten.

Rank
Program
Network
Viewers (P2+)

1
VOTE 2008-9:00PM(S)-11/04/2008
ABC
14,185,000

2
DECISION ‘08 PRIME(S)-11/04/2008
NBC
12,462,000

3
VOTE 2008-8:00PM(S)-11/04/2008
ABC
11,206,000

4
CAMPAIGN 2008 ELECT 3(S)-11/04/2008
CBS
7,410,000

5
YOU DECIDE 2008(S)-11/04/2008
FOX
4,733,000

6
DESTINO 2008 7 11/4(S)-11/04/2008
UNI
4,535,000

7
DESTINO 2008 8 11/4(S)-11/04/2008
UNI
4,474,000

8
DESTINO 2008 6 11/4(S)-11/04/2008
UNI
4,365,000

9
DESTINO 2008 5 11/4(S)-11/04/2008
UNI
3,669,000

10
DESTINO 2008 4 11/4(S)-11/04/2008
UNI
3,505,000

Source: The Nielsen Company (November …

Barack Obama’s historic election victory set bloggers abuzz.
In the wake of winning the 2008 U.S. presidential election, Obama was mentioned in almost 20% of all blog discussions, Nielsen Online reported Wednesday.
In comparison, John McCain was referenced by just 6.3% of all blog entries posted on November 5, according to Nielsen.

Amid an extraordinarily media-driven presidential campaign, the Internet has loomed large, influencing everything from fundraising to fact-checking.
Nielsen Online recently analyzed the online presidential campaign, examining online advertising by the candidates, Web traffic and online video viewing at both campaign’s sites, and blog buzz related to the election.

Online Advertising
Senator Barack Obama’s campaign ramped up its online advertising in mid-September. Image-based ad impressions by the Obama campaign grew 202% from September 15 to 22 — and by another 94% by September 29.
In mid-October, Obama’s campaign also stepped up its sponsored link advertising, …

Senator Barack Obama’s infomercial drew 33.5 million U.S. viewers Wednesday night, according to Nielsen.
The simulcast — the first of its kind since Ross Perot ran a political telecast on the eve of Election Day in 1996 — aired on CBS, FOX, NBC, Univision, BET, MSNBC, and TV One between 8pm and 8:30pm EDT.
Perot’s 1996 telecast drew almost 22.7 million viewers.
On an average Wednesday night, the networks that aired Obama’s telecast draw a combined average of 30.3 million average viewers during that half-hour daypart.
In comparison, the final debate between the two presidential candidates …

The combined overall household rating for Senator Barack Obama’s Wednesday night infomercial, in the top 56 local television markets where Nielsen maintains electronic TV meters, was 21.7.
Obama’s simulcast is the first to be aired by a presidential candidate since Ross Perot ran a political telecast on the eve of Election Day in 1996.  That program was watched by 16.8% of all households nationwide.
Ross Perot also ran a series of 15 political telecasts during the 1992 presidential election.
In comparison, the final debate between the two presidential candidates received a 38.3 household rating in the top …

Good news for Sen. John McCain’s campaign: cheap, but effective TV advertising options abound, according to a new report by Nielsen PreView.
Chief among these thrifty advertising alternatives – the auto-themed Speed Channel, which Republicans are 52% more likely to watch, compared with the average American.
In comparison, Republican voters are 48% more likely to watch FOX News and 33% more likely to watch Country Music Television. 
The takeaway: well-placed cable advertising can reach core Republican constituents at a more favorable CPM.