SOURCE: The Nielsen Company

September 08, 2008 09:00 ET

Online Buzz Focused on the Top of the Ticket, Nielsen Online Reports

Candidate Web Site Traffic Up During the Convention Period; McCain's Online Advertising Up in August

NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwire - September 8, 2008) - Nielsen Online, a service of the Nielsen Company, today reported that while vice-presidential candidate Gov. Sarah Palin may be in the headlines, online consumer discussion remains focused on the presidential candidates, Senators Barack Obama and John McCain. An analysis of buzz around more than 30 speakers at the recent Democratic and Republican National conventions showed Obama with a slight lead over McCain, followed by Palin and Sen. Hillary Clinton. Vice-presidential candidate, Sen. Joe Biden, rounded out the top five with just over one-quarter as much buzz as Obama.

Table 1: Top 20 speakers ranked by online buzz, with top speaker indexed at
100.  Based on analysis of messages posted between Aug. 25 and Aug. 29 for
DNC speakers, and between Sept. 1 and Sept. 5 for RNC speakers.

Speaker                 Index           Speaker                 Index
-------                 -----           -------                 -----
1. Barack Obama         100             11. Nancy Pelosi          4
2. John McCain           97             12. Mitt Romney           4
3. Sarah Palin           80             13. Al Gore               4
4. Hillary Clinton       33             14. Joe Lieberman         4
5. Joe Biden             26             15. Rudy Giuliani         3
6. George W. Bush        12             16. Fred Thompson         3
7. Michelle Obama        12             17. Mike Huckabee         3
8. Bill Clinton          11             18. Laura Bush            2
9. Cindy McCain           5             19. Jimmy Carter          2
10. Ted Kennedy           5             20. Mark Warner           2

Source: Nielsen Online, BuzzMetrics

Web Traffic

As might be expected, Web traffic to BarackObama.com increased 32 percent during the week of the Democratic National Convention, but traffic to John McCain's Web site increased 242 percent during the same period, when he named Sarah Palin as his running mate late in the week. Despite this surge, traffic to Obama's site still outpaced McCain's nearly 2-1 in the week ending August 31st.

Table 2: Weekly Unique Audience (000) at Presidential Campaign Sites

    Site            Week Ending 8/24   Week Ending 8/31      Growth
    ----            ----------------   ----------------      ------
BarackObama.com           2,617             3,445              32%
JohnMcCain.com             524*             1,791             242%

Source: Nielsen Online
*This Web site does not meet minimum sample size standards. Projected and
 average measures for this site may exhibit large changes as a result.

Online Advertising

John McCain's campaign stepped up its online advertising in August, particularly in image-based impressions, which increased 254 percent month-over-month. Sponsored search links were also up for the McCain camp, by 43 percent.

In contrast, the Barack Obama campaign placed fewer online ad impressions in August, with image-based impressions down by 48 percent and sponsored links down by 18 percent.

Table 3: Online Advertising by John McCain Campaign

                                                                   Percent
John McCain                            July 08        August 08    Change
-----------                           ----------      ----------   -------
Image-based Impressions               16,464,000      58,344,000     254%
Sponsored Search Link Impressions     15,103,000      21,618,000      43%

Source: Nielsen Online



Table 4: Online Advertising by Obama for America Campaign
                                                                   Percent
Obama for America                       July 08        August 08   Change
-----------------                     -----------     -----------  -------
Image-based Impressions               416,702,000     216,098,000    -48%
Sponsored Search Link Impressions       1,152,000         949,000    -18%

Source: Nielsen Online

For additional information from Nielsen on the presidential campaign, please visit our blog at http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/category/politics/.

About Nielsen Online:

Nielsen Online, a service of The Nielsen Company, delivers comprehensive, independent measurement and analysis of online audiences, advertising, video, consumer-generated media, word of mouth, commerce and consumer behavior, and includes products previously marketed under the Nielsen//NetRatings and Nielsen BuzzMetrics brands. With high quality, technology-driven products and services, Nielsen Online enables clients to make informed business decisions regarding their Internet, digital and marketing strategies. For more information, please visit www.nielsen-online.com.

About The Nielsen Company:

The Nielsen Company is a global information and media company with leading market positions in marketing information (ACNielsen), media information (Nielsen Media Research), online intelligence (NetRatings and BuzzMetrics), mobile measurement, trade shows and business publications (Billboard, The Hollywood Reporter, Adweek). The privately held company is active in more than 100 countries, with headquarters in New York, USA. For more information, please visit, www.nielsen.com.