medialifemagazine.com
On the web, Obama's the clear winner
By Heidi Dawley
Jul 10, 2008 - 12:05:07 PM
In the polls at least, Barack Obama and John McCain are in striking distance of each other and will certainly get closer in their race for the White House.
But go online and it's a very different story. Obama has an overwhelming lead.
In terms of web traffic, Obama's site had 2.3 million unique visitors in May to McCain's 563,000, according to Nielsen Online.
On Facebook, Obama has 1.1 million friends compared to McCain’s 162,244, according to the techPresident blog. The story's similar over on MySpace and YouTube. And with all those friends, donations have been pouring in too.
This raises two most interesting questions.
Has the internet been underrated as a political medium? And just how well will Obama's huge lead translate into votes?
Conventional wisdom has the web all but a non-player when it comes to swaying voters, with local TV still seen as the most effective medium, and the one that gets almost all the candidates' ad dollars.
But Obama's success with the web would seem to defy that wisdom.
“Without question the internet has been shown to be an increasingly important way for candidates to communicate with and organize with their constituents, to the extent that now the internet is perhaps the most effective way to organize a constituency,” says Jon Gibs, vice president, media analytics at Nielsen Online.
On the web, Obama certainly has one key advantage: youth. His supporters skew younger, and they're presumably more internet savvy than McCain’s older, Republican constituency.
But Obama has also worked hard to extend his reach beyond that natural following. Early on he hired some top internet talent, including Chris Hughes, one of the founders of Facebook.
“Obama has had a true and defined online vision for the way he wants to get his constituents to interact with him,” says Gibs. “He has done a very good job of integrating the internet and using it not as a cute sideline but as integral to the overall approach.”
And it's not about dollars as such, says Gibs.
“From a strategy point of view we as an industry have a habit of looking at who is spending more dollars. We extend the ad idea to the internet – the idea that if you are spending more ad dollars you are getting more votes,” says Gibs.
But that turns out to be the wrong way to evaluate the roll of the internet in the vote-getting process. Says Gibs: "Campaigns are looking at the internet as an organization vehicle, rather than a push-advertising or pull-dollar package."
That’s not to say the candidates are not advertising on the internet. In fact they are, although they are running very different campaigns.
Obama is more involved in display advertising, including as banner ads. Impressions for Obama’s imaged-based online advertising hit 105.7 million, versus 8.5 million for McCain. When it comes to sponsored link impressions, McCain’s camp came out on top, with 5.4 million impressions compared to 1.8 million for Obama.
***
Meanwhile, in online ratings for the week ended June 29, according to Nielsen Online, Google claimed the top spot among parent companies, followed by Microsoft, Yahoo, Time Warner and News Corp. Online. For the fifth straight week, the top five brands were Google, Yahoo, MSN/Windows Live, AOL Media Network and Microsoft.
Experian Group Limited held the top advertiser spot for the third straight week with 2.8 million impressions, with NexTag No. 2 at 2.1 million. With 12.6 million ads served, Yahoo was again the top advertising site, well ahead of No. 2 MySpace at 5.3 million.
Sessions per person per week were equal to the previous week at 16, and domains visited per person also were flat at 40. PC time per person slipped 3 percent compared with the previous week to 17 hours and 14 minutes.
|
Top 25 parent companies
Through June 29 |
|
#
|
Parent
|
Unique Audience (000)
|
Reach %
|
Time Spent per Person (hh:mm:ss)
|
|
1
|
Google
|
94,689
|
65.7
|
0:36:40
|
|
2
|
Microsoft
|
86,802
|
60.3
|
0:44:39
|
|
3
|
Yahoo!
|
79,012
|
54.8
|
1:04:19
|
|
4
|
Time Warner
|
62,098
|
43.1
|
1:17:54
|
|
5
|
News Corp. Online
|
46,077
|
32.0
|
0:48:06
|
|
6
|
eBay
|
32,225
|
22.4
|
0:54:43
|
|
7
|
InterActiveCorp
|
31,797
|
22.1
|
0:10:53
|
|
8
|
Apple Computer
|
23,990
|
16.7
|
0:34:00
|
|
9
|
Wikimedia Foundation
|
23,439
|
16.3
|
0:10:56
|
|
10
|
Amazon
|
22,917
|
15.9
|
0:16:18
|
|
11
|
Landmark Communications
|
22,318
|
15.5
|
0:14:27
|
|
12
|
Walt Disney Internet Group
|
22,041
|
15.3
|
0:24:30
|
|
13
|
New York Times Company
|
21,026
|
14.6
|
0:08:34
|
|
14
|
Turner Network (Time Warner)
|
19,437
|
13.5
|
0:21:35
|
|
15
|
AT&T Inc.
|
17,988
|
12.5
|
0:20:20
|
|
16
|
RealNetworks, Inc.
|
16,134
|
11.2
|
0:16:08
|
|
17
|
Facebook
|
14,646
|
10.2
|
0:44:01
|
|
18
|
CraigsList
|
14,105
|
9.8
|
0:36:00
|
|
19
|
Bank of America
|
13,598
|
9.4
|
0:20:28
|
|
20
|
CNET Networks
|
13,293
|
9.2
|
0:07:10
|
|
21
|
Comcast Corp.
|
13,207
|
9.2
|
0:33:18
|
|
22
|
Verizon Communications
|
13,090
|
9.1
|
0:18:01
|
|
23
|
E.W. Scripps Company
|
12,664
|
8.8
|
0:06:15
|
|
24
|
Viacom Digital
|
12,546
|
8.7
|
0:26:23
|
|
25
|
United Online
|
12,499
|
8.7
|
0:26:30
|
|
Source: Nielsen Online
|
|
Top 25 brands
Through June 29 |
|
|
Parent
|
Unique Audience (000)
|
Reach %
|
Time spent per person (hh:mm:ss)
|
|
1 |
Google
|
86,687
|
60.2
|
0:26:01
|
|
2 |
Yahoo!
|
78,089
|
54.2
|
1:04:29
|
|
3 |
MSN/Windows Live
|
65,738
|
45.6
|
0:45:20
|
|
4 |
AOL Media Network
|
55,315
|
38.4
|
1:24:45
|
|
5 |
Microsoft
|
52,223
|
36.3
|
0:17:03
|
|
6 |
Fox Interactive Media
|
39,796
|
27.6
|
0:52:11
|
|
7 |
YouTube
|
36,905
|
25.6
|
0:27:40
|
|
8 |
eBay
|
26,030
|
18.1
|
0:59:09
|
|
9 |
Apple
|
23,990
|
16.7
|
0:34:00
|
|
10 |
Wikipedia
|
23,439
|
16.3
|
0:10:55
|
|
11 |
Weather Channel
|
19,710
|
13.7
|
0:15:17
|
|
12 |
Blogger
|
18,909
|
13.1
|
0:05:49
|
|
13 |
Amazon
|
17,709
|
12.3
|
0:16:27
|
|
14 |
Ask Search Network
|
17,040
|
11.8
|
0:10:26
|
|
15 |
Real Network
|
16,134
|
11.2
|
0:16:08
|
|
16 |
Facebook
|
14,646
|
10.2
|
0:44:01
|
|
17 |
CNN Digital Network
|
14,323
|
9.9
|
0:19:08
|
|
18 |
About.com
|
14,137
|
9.8
|
0:03:24
|
|
19 |
Craigslist
|
14,105
|
9.8
|
0:36:00
|
|
20 |
AT&T
|
13,559
|
9.4
|
0:23:33
|
|
21 |
Bank of America
|
12,934
|
9.0
|
0:20:53
|
|
22 |
Glam Media
|
11,328
|
7.9
|
0:10:56
|
|
23 |
Comcast
|
9,953
|
6.9
|
0:42:09
|
|
24 |
Chase
|
9,823
|
6.8
|
0:14:19
|
|
25 |
Target
|
9,303
|
6.5
|
0:05:10
|
|
Source: Nielsen Online |
|
Top 25 advertisers
(excludes house ads)
Through June 29 |
|
#
|
Company
|
Impressions (000)
|
|
1 |
Experian Group Limited
|
2,804,427
|
|
2 |
Vonage Holdings Corp
|
2,067,234
|
|
3 |
NexTag, Inc.
|
1,751,298
|
|
4 |
Scottrade, Inc.
|
1,354,915
|
|
5 |
Microsoft Corporation
|
1,168,780
|
|
6 |
Activision, Incorporated
|
993,140
|
|
7 |
AT&T Corp.
|
969,555
|
|
8 |
Netflix, Inc.
|
885,409
|
|
9 |
General Electric Company
|
880,429
|
|
10 |
Verizon Communications, Inc.
|
809,637
|
|
11 |
Deutsche Telekom AG
|
637,202
|
|
12 |
United Online, Inc.
|
630,834
|
|
13 |
The Walt Disney Corporation
|
588,156
|
|
14 |
Privacy Matters
|
527,150
|
|
15 |
Edmunds.com, Inc.
|
494,888
|
|
16 |
ALLTEL Corporation
|
490,417
|
|
17 |
Ford Motor Company
|
467,966
|
|
18 |
InterActiveCorp
|
416,962
|
|
19 |
General Motors Corporation
|
409,732
|
|
20 |
E*TRADE FINANCIAL Corp.
|
407,827
|
|
21 |
Washington Mutual, Inc.
|
368,125
|
|
22 |
Unclassified Local Advertiser
|
360,408
|
|
23 |
American Express Company
|
350,780
|
|
24 |
Capital One Financial Corporation
|
345,366
|
|
25 |
Monster Worldwide, Inc.
|
336,943
|
|
Source: Nielsen Online, AdRelevance
Note: Nielsen Online, AdRelevance service estimated online advertising expenditures account for CPM-based image-based advertising. All reported estimated expenditures and impressions do not account for the following placement types: text only, paid fee services, performance-based campaigns, sponsorships, barters, in-stream ("pre-rolls") players, messenger applications, partnership advertising, promotions and email campaigns. AdRelevance currently does not report estimated spending for paid search advertising. Also, Nielsen Online, AdRelevance reporting data reflects advertising activity served on pages accessible via the World Wide Web and not within AOL's proprietary service. |
|
Top 25 advertising sites
(excludes house ads)
Through June 29 |
|
|
Company
|
Impressions (000)
|
|
1 |
Yahoo!
|
12,621,638
|
|
2 |
MySpace
|
5,268,231
|
|
3 |
MSN
|
3,404,797
|
|
4 |
Comcast.net
|
1,199,286
|
|
5 |
AOL.com
|
1,159,512
|
|
6 |
MSNBC
|
884,912
|
|
7 |
eBay
|
877,999
|
|
8 |
FOXNEWS.COM
|
611,466
|
|
9 |
The Weather Channel
|
549,602
|
|
10 |
Facebook
|
547,019
|
|
11 |
IMDb
|
456,291
|
|
12 |
New York Times
|
397,704
|
|
13 |
NeoPets
|
353,227
|
|
14 |
YouTube
|
352,180
|
|
15 |
Photobucket
|
298,554
|
|
16 |
Juno
|
278,969
|
|
17 |
CNN Money
|
250,408
|
|
18 |
CNN
|
232,733
|
|
19 |
ESPN.com
|
209,473
|
|
20 |
NetZero
|
208,495
|
|
21 |
Project Playlist
|
205,327
|
|
22 |
Verizon Online
|
200,334
|
|
23 |
Amazon
|
193,169
|
|
24 |
Pogo
|
183,884
|
|
25 |
Excite
|
182,821
|
|
Source: Nielsen Online, AdRelevance
Note: Nielsen Online, AdRelevance service estimated online advertising expenditures account for CPM-based image-based advertising. All reported estimated expenditures and impressions do not account for the following placement types: text only, paid fee services, performance-based campaigns, sponsorships, barters, in-stream ("pre-rolls") players, messenger applications, partnership advertising, promotions and email campaigns. AdRelevance currently does not report estimated spending for paid search advertising. Above data does not include any house advertising activity. Also, Nielsen Online, AdRelevance reporting data reflects advertising activity served on pages accessible via the World Wide Web and not within AOL's proprietary service. |
|
Average use
Through June 29 |
|
|
Current Week
|
Last Week
|
% Change
|
|
Sessions/Visits per Person
|
16
|
16
|
0
|
|
Domains Visited per Person
|
40
|
40
|
0
|
|
PC Time per Person
|
17:13:37
|
17:45:11
|
-2.96
|
|
Active Digital Media Universe
|
144,074,100
|
140,837,415
|
2.30
|
|
Current Digital Media Universe Estimate
|
223,191,237
|
223,138,769
|
0.02
|
|
Source: Nielsen Online |
© 2009 Media Life
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