Nielsen: One-Fifth Of Households In Top Markets Watched Obama Infomercial
Nielsen releases its ratings on Obama's infomercial last night:
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...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.
One-fifth of households for a political ad -- okay, a political ad on steroids -- seems awfully high, no?
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I posted this downthread.. but what the hell, the more the merrier.
McCain stood up by the Joe, the fucking Plumber. You gotta see the pathetic caricature of a presidential candidate here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCkGEHQVHK4
What do 48% of amurikans see in this guy (I mean JM) anyway ? Horror..
October 30, 2008 11:52 AM | Reply | Permalink
That was hilariously awkward!
October 30, 2008 11:56 AM | Reply | Permalink
and mavericky.
October 30, 2008 12:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
Sarah and Joe have gone off the ranch. . .
October 30, 2008 12:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hmmmm - could they be off together somewhere, plotting against the Old Man?
LOL!
October 30, 2008 12:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
She winked at Joe and he got all starbursty? I'm really trying to keep it out of the gutter here! :-)
October 30, 2008 12:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
OOo, what a temptation.
;)
October 30, 2008 12:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
Maybe Joe was recording his Country Western album.
October 30, 2008 12:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
McCain WILL NOT get 48 percent of the vote.
October 30, 2008 1:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
Joe was working on his stimulus package with Palin.
October 30, 2008 1:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
Rimshot!
October 30, 2008 4:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
Can't run youtube. Anyone care to explain what happened with Joe standing up McCain?
Thanks
October 30, 2008 12:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
McCain says "We've got Joe the Plumber with us here today! Stand up Joe!" and then looks around for about 20 seconds, then says "Well, you're all Joe the Plumber so everyone stand up". Not direct quotes, but that's the gist of it.
October 30, 2008 12:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
Mcinsane was yapping about JTFP "exposing" Obama (by his teh stupid questions) and then calls out for him. "Where is Joe ? Where is Joe ?". Both Mcinsane and his C.. of wifey looking around for him, only the fucker hasn't turned up. Then in his inmitable "heh' heh" cackle and some lame bull about "You are all JTFP's and please stand up".
Ok. I am about to puke.
October 30, 2008 12:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hope you all enjoyed the above Mcinsane moment.
Here is another one - Cavuto of faux noose ripping one more for Mcnasty basically saying Mccan't knows next to nothing about economy and giving props to Obama being consistent at least.
http://crooksandliars.com/john-amato/neil-cavuto-john-mccain-economic-matter
October 30, 2008 12:16 PM | Reply | Permalink
And many of us who for various reasons don't have a tv (ours died Fri night) watched it when the video came out. This is one "ad" that has a life of its own. Many people will see it multiple times.
There is no real way to know how many people will have seen it. The you tube video itself now is at 684,018. And how many places have embedded it? How many will see it before all is said and done?
This is amazing!
October 30, 2008 11:52 AM | Reply | Permalink
Incredible.
October 30, 2008 11:52 AM | Reply | Permalink
Good. Hopefully that makes my GOTV job a little bit easier.
October 30, 2008 11:53 AM | Reply | Permalink
You rock, Greg!
October 30, 2008 12:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
Co-sign with bells on.
Greg's da bomb! :)
October 30, 2008 12:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
Right back at you two. I trust that you are doing your part down in NM, no? Meanwhile, I doubt that much GOTV work is needed in Connecticut, but I am sure that CT Voter is doing her part as well.
October 30, 2008 12:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
Actually, Taos is small and the whole fucking valley is full of Obama fanatics and I'm superfluous here as far as being on the ground.
So I did the very thing that most people I think at this point this is foolish - I sent him another $250 last night.
That's my last, though - I sent $150 to the DCCC a few days ago and I'm broke.
October 30, 2008 12:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
"Seems awfully high".
Hah. The pundits seemed to be concern trolling over saturation, that the voters just want this to be over, that they're tired of ads, that this may make Obama seem like he's being too aggressive, that every one is tired of this race, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah infinitum.
Seems like an awful lot of Americans are still interested enough if the ratings were that high.
October 30, 2008 11:54 AM | Reply | Permalink
I'm as sick as anyone of this long process and I turned it on with the intent of just getting a feeling for what the format would be and then turning it off. I got sucked in. Now, I know I'm hardly the target audience for it, but I thought it was very engaging.
October 30, 2008 11:55 AM | Reply | Permalink
Yes, well, you and an awful lot of other people apparently felt the same.
I didn't watch it, because I was pretty sure I was going to like it, anyway. I tuned in for the reactions afterward on MSNBC. My sense? Chris Matthews really liked it, and Howard Fineman really liked it. Richard Wolffe was struggling to be objective, as was Keith Olbermann, who asked some of the most concern troll-y questions that I've ever heard him ask.
October 30, 2008 11:58 AM | Reply | Permalink
My sense of Chris Matthews is that he is starry-eyed over Obama.
His crush is almost as bad as mine and he cannot hide it very well.
October 30, 2008 12:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
That is so funny you say that about Keith because I thought the same thing. He was desperately trying to make devil's advocate process arguments. Matthews et. al. seemed non-plussed by it.
Keith has made several comments the last few days dissing the ad. Relax, Keith, no one cares you are in the tank for Obama. You are a commentator, not a reporter. Your ratings are higher than ever, so don't fix something that ain't broke!!
October 30, 2008 12:45 PM | Reply | Permalink
Speaking of concern-trolly, Rachel Maddow was so Chicken Little poll panicky last night that I almost wrote another of my "calm the hell down Emocrats" posts before I remembered she was a national media figure instead of a commenter on TPM.
And speaking of Chicken Littles, I just noticed yesterday that TNR is where they hang out. Jesus, it was like going to a party and finding out everyone else there was more neurotic than the characters in a Woody Allen movie.
October 30, 2008 12:52 PM | Reply | Permalink
Could be her concern-trolling is her way of telling Dems and Obama independents not to get complacent. I know I work a little harder when the outcome is uncertain and crucial.
October 30, 2008 12:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
She really drives me nuts with that - I almost turned her off last night.
October 30, 2008 1:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
Is that high? I don't know.
But I was thinking this morning about something else - all this exposure of Obama has also gotten people used to his name. IT's not the usual name for a president but continued repetition of Barack Obama has also moved that name out of the exotic column.
Just my two cents.
October 30, 2008 11:55 AM | Reply | Permalink
Yes, it's high. "Pushing Daisies" apparently pulled in a significantly lower number.
October 30, 2008 12:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
Boy there are a lot of things I'm really stupid about.
Thanks.
:)
October 30, 2008 12:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
How low, you ask?
From Politico:
October 30, 2008 12:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
Bet there are some ad execs at ABC kicking themselves in the hiney this morning! :-)
October 30, 2008 12:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
I love Jim Geraghty's take on the infomercial:
The words "whistling past the graveyard" spring readily to mind...
October 30, 2008 12:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
I have a hard time taking him seriously any longer after the statement about the Nickelodeon poll.
October 30, 2008 12:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
The best is his rationalization as to why he thinks the polls are undercounting McCain's support: I find it very plausible that the remaining undecided are going to disproportionately break for McCain... Obama has enjoyed significant advantages — his commercials are ubiquitous, his debate performances were at least adequate if not strong... vast swaths of his press coverage are glowing, etc. If, after exposure to all of this, if you're "undecided", you probably just don't want to vote for the guy and you just don't want to tell a pollster.
Got that? Obama's so strong that if you have not decided to vote for him yet, that must mean that you never will. I guess if that helps Mr Geraghty and his readers to sleep at night, I will not begrudge them this consolation, but I hope that he is not being paid for accuracy.
October 30, 2008 12:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hey, you know what occurred to me yesterday? Who are they polling now? IF they are only polling people who have not voted yet, then it makes perfect sense for national polls to tighten inasmuch as a shitload of Obama voters have already voted.
I don't think they poll people who say that they have voted already - I don't think.
October 30, 2008 12:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
They do poll people that have already voted. The fact that they have already voted helps move them into the "Likely Voter" category. :-)
October 30, 2008 12:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
link?
October 30, 2008 12:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
I am looking for a link... I remember reading this a couple of days ago. I'll post it once I've found it.
October 30, 2008 12:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
I don't have a link either, but if anyone saw the interview that Nate Silver did on Dan Rather's HDNET show, he mentioned it there. I specifically remember Nate saying that they do include early voters in the polling.
October 30, 2008 1:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
Here is a link to a recent Survey USA poll in Oregon. "800 Oregon adults were interviewed 10/25/08 and 10/26/08. Of them 736 were registered to vote. Of them, 672 are included in the likely voter mix." Out of the 672 likely voters, 50% had already voted and are listed as "actual" voters.
This is a state poll, but from what I've seen the national polls are done in a similar fashion.
http://www.surveyusa.com/client/PollReport.aspx?g=0b63ff1a-61f7-4ec0-bd56-38d157768f62
October 30, 2008 1:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
Ok, but I know I"ve been phone polled before - not this election - but the first question was if I'd voted and when I'd voted early, they always ended the poll right there.
October 30, 2008 12:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
The calls you received may have been phone bank calls. In Oregon we have pretty good data when we start our calls--the elections offices release daily lists of who has already voted--but the first question is still "have you voted?", since we do not want to waste time on folks that mailed their ballot the day before. The second question is: "If you were voting today who would you vote for...?" This may sound like a poll to the person on the other end, but it is a political GOTV operation.
October 30, 2008 1:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
When you said that yesterday it was like a light going off--I'm pretty sure you are right (no time right now to actually check). So all the enthusiastic Obama supporters, who could, have voted, and therefore the population of pro-Obama poll-ees shrinks. Does anyone actually know that this is true?
Then my brain started thinking about Stevens (with jzap, I think), because AK has early voting, and I was going "uh oh."
October 30, 2008 12:38 PM | Reply | Permalink
I got polled recently, answered the "how likely are you to vote" question by telling him I'd already voted and got a response from that seemed to indicate he was clicking a specific "already voted" box on his list, even though that wasn't one of the choices he gave me.
Then, he proceeded to ask me all the questions in the poll based upon an "if the election were held today" premise, followed by a "how certain are you" premise.
It occurred to me that most early voters are going to answer questions structured in a way that reflects their rock-solid certainty that they absolutely, postively made the right decision and would do the same thing over again. Besides having the certitude that made them early voters, people are always going to be more certain they did the right thing in hindsight. Just basic psychology.
But what if they had changed their mind? What if something big happened to change their minds? What if we found out that Obama was actually the undead corpose of Richard Nixon in makeup, tricking his way back in to power? (Okay, wait, make that undead Hitler. I might still prefer undead Nixon to McCain if put to the choice.) Well, in that case, how answer a "if the election were held today" question would change, but it would make a damn bit of difference to the outcome.
If a third of the country votes early, this is just a damn foolish way to structure a poll. The only reason they're doing it is because they'd have to have a larger sample to get valid results in what would, essentially, turn into separate polls of separate populations. And polls with large samples are less marketable this year because they are more likely to show the same thing as all the other polls and, thus, be less newsworthy.
October 30, 2008 1:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
I bet that most undecideds will think about the long, long lines Nov. 4 and think, "Aw, screw it."
You really think that someone who hasn't thought enough about these two guys to have decided on one by now will have the motivation to actually vote?
October 30, 2008 12:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
I agree. The undecideds must not like either candidate very much and will just stay home. Also if they don't like McCain after his many years of exposure, they probably aren't going to like him next Tuesday either. Or maybe they are turned off by Palin. If any do break it will be more likely be for Obama to be a part of the winning team.
October 30, 2008 1:06 PM | Reply | Permalink
I kind of agree with you about this. If you're not that fired up about your candidate and are faced with a 4+ hour wait at the polling place...what are the chances you're going to stick around?
October 30, 2008 1:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
Some are actually confused by all the batshit crazy hateful stuff they are told. I know a few otherwise likely supporters who are doubtful all because of the lies they have heard.
October 30, 2008 1:21 PM | Reply | Permalink
I guess we can conclude it was a good use of funds
October 30, 2008 11:54 AM | Reply | Permalink
A 21.7? For a 30 minute ad? This was DEFINITELY worth the $3.5MM. Joe the Plumber probably saw it last night and realized he was backing the wrong horse....
October 30, 2008 11:57 AM | Reply | Permalink
Co-sign.
October 30, 2008 12:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
Which might explain why Joe The Plumber (TM) stood him up today!
October 30, 2008 12:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
O the informercial has such excellent production values that you did get sucked in and you did want to finish watching it. We've seen almost all of it before but I was moved just like I always am by his story and his explanation of why he wants to be president.
October 30, 2008 11:57 AM | Reply | Permalink
Obama is also an awesome narrator. He sounded professional, as if he could easily make a living narrating documentaries. His voice reassured even while addressing uncertain and difficult situations.
October 30, 2008 12:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
That's how last night's ad struck me -- reassuring.
Some commenters got dinged for saying they didn't find it inspiring. I guess inspiring didn't occur to me. That wasn't what I was looking for.
I think it was designed to reassure voters who still have questions about Obama. Scaring up such questions is the point of McSlime's attacks. Painting BigO as compassionate and thoughtful counters those attacks very well.
The inspiring stuff helps motivate volunteers in the ground game. I don't think that was the audience he was trying to reach last night.
October 30, 2008 12:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
I also think it's genius for Gore to campaign in Florida. It just reminds everyone of what happened in 2000 and I know people think Gore was robbed and I really think it's a great way to put the guilt on people to by god vote.
LOL!
October 30, 2008 12:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yep. I like it a lot too. What I also like it about that is it will further highlight what an asshead Liebersuck is.
October 30, 2008 12:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
As I said in another thread, if this ad levels off support for Obama (5-6 lead), or if it leads to a 1-2 point uptick for Obama over the next two or three days, that should be enough to get Obama through election day.
And if that happens, it will totally be worth it.
October 30, 2008 12:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
If this had a 21.70 rating, I think that will come out to about 32+ million viewers. Using the links Greg provided, the second presidential debate had a 42 rating with 63.20 million viewing.
I'm not a lover of math even though I deal with it everyday. We'll see the viewer amount later this afternoon when Nielson reports.
I think this was great for Obama. I really enjoyed the 'show'. It would've been good even if it wasn't a political ad. That speaks well for its intended audience (i.e. many who don't post on political blogs! You know, everyday 'Joe's').
October 30, 2008 12:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
OT:
The Economist endorses Obama "wholeheartedly"
http://www.economist.com/world/unitedstates/displayStory.cfm?story_id=12516666&source=features_box_main
October 30, 2008 12:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
ha. isn't the economist one of the print sources palin ended up claiming to be a regular reader of after she pretended to read everything?
well, the economist is european so its no wonder they'd endorse a marxist!
October 30, 2008 12:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
Someone made a joke that Palin should have said she reads The Economist because all politicians claim to read it.
And, though European, The Economist is about as far away as you can be from marxism. I'm sure their editors would laugh their collective asses of at the idea.
October 30, 2008 12:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
actually, she did claim to read the economist (and the ny times and the wsj).
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/10/03/palin-economist/
(and the economist=european=marxist was snark)
October 30, 2008 1:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
Someone made a joke that Palin should have said she reads The Economist because all politicians claim to read it.
And, though European, The Economist is about as far away as you can be from marxism. I'm sure their editors would laugh their collective asses of at the idea.
October 30, 2008 12:38 PM | Reply | Permalink
Someone made a joke that Palin should have said she reads The Economist because all politicians claim to read it.
And, though European, The Economist is about as far away as you can be from marxism. I'm sure their editors would laugh their collective asses of at the idea.
October 30, 2008 12:42 PM | Reply | Permalink
According to what they are describing (unless I'm misreading things very badly!), it wasn't a 21.7 rating, it was a 21.7 share, which is what the term is for the percentage of all screens available that are tuned to a particular bit of programming.
A 21.7 share for a half-hour political broadcast is staggering. Seriously, that is a huge number.
October 30, 2008 12:21 PM | Reply | Permalink
Well, good!!!
October 30, 2008 12:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
via Politico - Plain palin about to be thrown under the bus.
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1008/15073.html
Of course, Roger Simon sez it's all Mcinsane's fault.
October 30, 2008 12:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
I foresee a future as a truTV B-lister alongside Tonya, circa 2012.
October 30, 2008 12:41 PM | Reply | Permalink
Oh boy! Get your popcorn ready!
McCain is picking a fight with Palin? I can hardly wait! Does he have any idea of the monster he created?
October 30, 2008 12:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
This is pretty telling, as Roger Simon is one of the biggest Tire Swingers around. Only AP Ron is a bigger Tire Swinger.
Reading the article, Simon does take some shots at McCain. Most of them, however, are aimed at the Campaign Team. It's possible that Simon is starting to hitch his wagon to Palin as the Future of the GOP. Or he might just be willing to throw the McCain Campaign Team under the bus, which we know is going to happen in large part anyway. Schmitty is likely fucked for years until he gets rehabbed with another big campaign win. Davis is done as a major campaign figure, instead slinking back into being a lobbiest toady. Others will take hits, especially when the books start coming out what a shithole of a campaign operations they've been.
So Simon takes some of the easy ways out, and positions himself nicely to get some good sources within the future Palin operations.
John
October 30, 2008 1:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
Now this is some welcome news!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dawn-teo/obama-may-visit-arizona-l_b_139158.html
October 30, 2008 12:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
Please, please, please--I would LOVE that. Rub their fucking noses in it. After all the shit they sling, it is MORE than well-deserved.
October 30, 2008 12:41 PM | Reply | Permalink
cue Chuck D:
by the time i get to arizona...
October 30, 2008 1:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm thinking this is aimed only partially in making McCain work the state. There are a pair of key pickups:
Leans Republican
Ariz. 3 – Shadegg, R
Leans Democrat
Ariz. 1 – Renzi, R* Ariz. 5 – Mitchell, D
Ariz. 8 – Giffords, D
Safe Republican
Ariz. 2 – Franks, R
Ariz. 6 – Flake, R
Safe Democrat
Ariz. 4 – Pastor, D
Ariz. 7 – Grijalva, D
Firming up the grab of Renzi's seat, and then tossing Shadegg out... those would be pretty huge.
Also, McCain is Old As Dirt. He's up for re-election in 2010. After the failure in 2008, he may just retire (unlikely)... but he may also be ripe for a beatdown. Kyl is up in 2012, and 70 years old at that point.
AZ isn't a huge Social Conservative State. It is a Red State where the Blues can make some inroads. Having 6 of the 8 Reps be Dems, and then targetting McCain & Kyl in the next two Senate campaigns as the Republicans nationally probably go much further to the Wingnut faction of the party... these are good opportunities.
John
October 30, 2008 2:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
From the fast nationals, which is essentially what Greg was alluding to, the show drew a "drew a combined 26 million-plus viewers" on the networks - FOX, NBC and CBS. Mix in several million more that watched it on cable.
From Zap2It:
http://www.zap2it.com/tv/ratings/zap-ratings102908,0,1794699.story
It will almost certainly be the most watched show of the week. Here's last week:
http://tv.zap2it.com/tveditorial/tve_main/1,1002,272|||weekly,00.html
Those were new episodes of DWTS ans CSI.
Am I susprised it drew this much? Not as all. I was more surprised by the numbers of the Conventions and the VP Debate, even with the Palin Factor. I expected this to draw 30M+.
John
October 30, 2008 12:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
October 30, 2008 12:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
To be undecided at this stage in the campaign makes me hope that these people are not critical decision makers in the medical arts!
October 30, 2008 1:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
I tend to agree with this logic.
In order for McCain to win on election day, he needs to have a reversal in fortune that throws an additional 5% worth (or larger, depending on the state) of voters his way, and ALL these people will have to show up and wait in line for hours at a time to vote for a ticket that is most likely going to lose anyway.
The key numbers this election may simply be the enthusiasm gap. How van McCain expect the same turnout as Obama when 75% of Obama voters are excited to vote for him, but only 55% of McCain's voters are excited to vote for him?
October 30, 2008 1:54 PM | Reply | Permalink
The more impressive stat is the list of the top markets for the show that were above 25% of households:
1 Baltimore 26 31.3
2 Philadelphia 4 29.0
3 West Palm Beach-Ft. Pierce 38 28.0
4 Nashville 29 27.3
5 Greensboro-H.Point-W.Salem 46 27.2
6 St. Louis 21 27.1
PA, FL, NC, and MO markets all with above-average viewership...
October 30, 2008 3:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
Some of my take on Obama's show.
I watched it with my wife and 11 year old daughter, even though we're all committed Democrats anyway. We all liked it, and thought it was very well done. My daughter said, "That will get people to vote for him."
We'd previously seen most of the parts that were culled from existing material, since we're pretty engaged -- and are bombarded by ads (we're in NH).
My wife doesn't care too much for the sort of human interest segments he included, but I thought they were an important part of the "reassuring" part of the message he putting out. What I was particularly struck by in those was the way he narrated from off screen. I can't recall ever seeing something like that. The offscreen narrator is always a supporting role to what's on screen. In politics, especially, when the principal politician speaks, he's on camera. Obama, in fact, has such a direct-to-the-camera delivery that it was very striking to make the *story* he was presenting be the focus like that. That's confidence. That's an amazing way to encourage the viewer to identify with the ordinary people and their stories and *through* those stories to Obama. And, to reinforce it, he elsewhere in the piece emphasizes that *everybody* has a story.
We did, admittedly, tape Daisies to watch another time. That's a fun way to watch someone awkwardly and briefly bring the dead to life, as compared to watching McCain make futile attempts to awkwardly revive his dead campaign. Sorry John. It would take more than a touch, and would need to last more than a minute.
October 30, 2008 4:19 PM | Reply | Permalink