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.

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 drew 56.5 million U.S. viewers on October 15. The candidates’ first debate on September 26 drew 52.4 million viewers; their second debate, on October 7, drew 63.2 million viewers.

View the full media alert.

Read coverage of Nielsen’s findings by Reuters and the Associated Press, as well as in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, The Boston Globe, the Baltimore Sun, The Hollywood Reporter, Adweek, Ad Age, Multichannel News, Broadcasting & Cable, Media Life, and Media Post.

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.

The game aired on FOX Wednesday night, between 8:30pm and 10:15pm EDT.  

In comparison, just 29% of Philly households and 23.4% of Tampa Bay households watched Barack Obama’s infomercial in the half hour leading up to what proved to be the Phillies-Rays’ final game.

The half-hour political simulcast — the first of its kind, since Ross Perot ran a political telecast on the eve of Election Day in 1996 — aired on CBS, NBC, FOX, UNIVISION, MSNBC, and NY1 between 8pm and 8:30pm EST.

In the top 56 local television markets where Nielsen maintains electronic TV meters, 21.7% of all households watched Obama’s telecast.

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 56 local TV markets.  The candidates’ first debate on September 26 received a 34.7 household rating in the top 55 markets; their second debate, on October 7, received a 42.0 household rating in those markets.

Among the top 56 local metered markets, the Baltimore market had the largest TV audience, with a household rating of 31.3, while the Portland market had the lowest household rating: 14.2.

One rating point equals 1% of the total TV households in a given market.

View ratings for Nielsen’s 56 top local metered markets.

Obama’s infomercial aired live on CBS, NBC, FOX, UNIVISION, MSNBC, and NY1 Wednesday night.  This data does not include ratings from BET, which aired the infomercial during different time periods.

National ratings for the infomercial will be available from Nielsen Thursday afternoon.

Obama’s simulcast would be the first to be aired by a presidential candidate since Ross Perot ran a series of 15 political telecasts during the 1992 presidential election.

Perot’s 1992 telecasts drew an average audience of 11.6 million viewers — 4.6% of all viewers nationwide.  His one simulcast, carried on ABC and CBS on November 2, 1992 between 8pm and 8:30pm, attracted 26 million viewers.

Obama’s October 29 simulcast would also air between 8pm and 8:30pm.  During the last four weeks, that daypart has drawn an average of 6.3 million viewers on CBS and 9.3 million viewers on NBC.

Political TV broadcasts have drawn unusually large audiences this year.  The October 7 debate between Senators McCain and Obama drew 63.2 million viewers less than a week after Sen. Joe Biden and Gov. Sarah Palin set a new V.P. debate TV audience record: 69.9 million viewers. 

In August and September, nearly two-thirds of all U.S. households (64.5%) — 120.1 million people age two or older — watched at least one of the political conventions.