CNN estimates about 30 million people saw the Obamamercial!

[SallyMander]

:wow:

(CNN) — The major networks may just wish Barack Obama took up more airtime after taking a look at the ratings for the Democratic presidential candidate's 30-minute infomercial Wednesday night.

According to preliminary ratings numbers from the networks, more than 26 million people watched the program on CBS, NBC or Fox. That's 3 million more than usually watch those networks at that hour, according to the Hollywood Reporter. Averaging in the cable networks that also carried the event, about 30 million people in all saw the long-form campaign ad.

The ad was most watched on NBC, where nearly 10 million viewers tuned in. More than 8.5 million watched on CBS while just under 8 million viewed the program on Fox. On average, about 7 million people usually tune into each network at that hour.

Overall, according to Nielsen, for the six networks that aired the infomercial simultaneously, it scored a household rating of nearly 22 percent — meaning 22 percent of all households watching television at that hour tuned into the spot. That compares to the 38.3 household rating the last presidential debate scored.

Obama's combined audience beat the highest rated television show last week: CBS' CSI drew about 20 million viewers. It also drew more than double the viewers the average World Series game this year did.

But even if viewers didn't catch the spot when it first aired, clips of the program have repeatedly been broadcast across the cable news chanels Thursday, maximizing the Illinois senator's exposure in the crucial remaining days before Election Day.

"The strategic brilliance of this for Obama is that he is going to consume about 24 hours of the news cycle," Evan Tracey of Campaign Media Analysis Group said. "It boxes McCain in, takes the oxygen out of the room."

It's unclear exactly how much the Obama campaign spent on the commercial in total, but estimates put the cost at least $3.5 million.

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/

[sellitman]

1. I wonder how many undecideds saw it?

That is the real figure that counts.

[SallyMander]

2. I wonder if we'll see an effect in the tracking polls

That would sort of get at your question.

[sellitman]

9. I was just wondering......

Is your husband named Jerry?

(Sorry, I couldn't resist.)

[SallyMander]

10. Nope, that's my dad

;)

[juno jones]

16. There was a diary on Kos

by a man who saw it in a Philly bar right before the world series. As it began, people slowly quieted down, within a few minutes, the bartender was asked to turn up the sound. The entire bar sat quiet and watched, even applauding after. There were a few comments down thread of similar experiences, of bar patrons sitting quietly and reading the closed captioning, etc.

With it's placement right before the world series, this was seen by a lot of people who might not even been thinking about watching it initially.

[wroberts189]

3. in other news hard core repubs commiting mass suicide.

one could only hope.

[NJmaverick]

4. Considering that it was on at 5 pm on the west coast

I wonder if they have the DVR numbers. Plus there have been 3 quarters of a million web hits on youtube for the commercial

[mikiturner]

5. Ratings chart

[SallyMander]

6. Cool, thanks!

Where did you find that?

[mikiturner]

8. Here you go!

http://www.thrfeed.com/2008/10/fox-tops-wednes.html

[PBS Poll-435]

7. That's an awesome chart!

Thanks for sharing it.

[Goldom]

11. If I was CBS and FOX...

I'd be pretty depressed that even with identical programming, NBC had a million more viewers.

Of course, I watched it on NBC too. What can I say, they're about the only network I ever watch, if you count all their channels (USA, SciFi...)

[soccermomforobama]

12. Interesting CNN has this on their political ticker when

they turned down the chance to show the ad.

[SallyMander]

14. I know, right?

I wonder if they are kicking themselves?

Welcome to DU!

[JBoy]

13. And viewers "watched" this commercial

They didn't use it as an opportunity to take a leak, or refill their bowl of cheetos.

[demo dutch]

15. All my Obama friends saw it, but the two undecided leaning McCain didn't