Yesterday, Sen. John McCain continued to close the gap between his TV advertising and Sen. Barack Obama's in seven key swing states: Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.
On Tuesday, Oct. 28, McCain ran 1,543 ad units in those seven states -- up 12.9% from the previous day, in which he ran 1,366 ads.
Obama continues to out-advertise McCain, but in comparison, he boosted his ad units by just 8.7%, from 2,906 units on Monday to 3,160 units on Tuesday, Oct. 28.
On Monday, Obama ran 113% more ad units than McCain, but by Tuesday that lead had shrunk to 105% -- or a margin of 1,617 ad units.
Nielsen's ad unit data shows preliminary commercial occurrences and may fluctuate from day to day, as data is updated.
Both candidates continue to run the bulk of their TV ads in Florida, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. On Tuesday, McCain ran 74% of his 1,543 ads (or 1,142 units) in those three states, while Obama ran 72% of his 3,160 ads (or 2,269 units) there.
From Monday to Tuesday, both candidates increased their combined advertising by 7% in these three states.
| State | Obama: Ad Units* (10/27/08) | Obama: Ad Units* (10/28/08) | % Growth: Obama Ad Units* (10/27 Vs. 10/28) | McCain: Ad Units* (10/27/08) | McCain: Ad Units* (10/28/08) | % Growth: McCain Ad Units* (10/27 Vs. 10/28) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Colorado | 252 | 294 | 16.6% | 36 | 55 | 52.8% |
| Florida | 998 | 971 | -2.7% | 408 | 416 | 1.9% |
| Georgia | 11 | 10 | -9.1% | 0 | 24 | n/a |
| Missouri | 205 | 214 | 4.4% | 105 | 113 | 7.6% |
| Ohio | 680 | 784 | 15.3% | 325 | 389 | 19.7% |
| Pennsylvania | 451 | 514 | 13.9% | 331 | 337 | 1.8% |
| Virginia | 309 | 373 | 20.7% | 161 | 209 | 29.8% |
| Source: The Nielsen Company (October 27 - 28, 2008). | ||||||
| *Note: Television advertising activity reported includes preliminary commercial occurrences for local and national broadcast TV and syndicated TV. Local cable TV advertising activity is not included. | ||||||
Overall, between Oct. 6 and Oct. 28, Obama placed 150% more ad units (68,102 vs. 27,186) than McCain in Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.
Read coverage of Nielsen's findings by Bloomberg and in the Denver Business Journal and the Financial Times.
Stay tuned on NielsenWire for daily political ad updates from the swing states.
