Obama Steps Up Online Advertising on Campaign

Friday, February 22nd, 2008 by Janet Meiners

Obama Steps Up Online Advertising on Campaign

Barack Obama set a record in January by raising the highest amount of any candidate in a primary race. Online advertising may have contributed to his astonishing success. He raised $36.8 million last month compared to Hillary Rodham Clinton’s $19.7 million. Obama beat his staff’s projections of $32 million.

Unfortunately the reports I read don’t break down how the funds came through except to distinguish between individual and corporate donations. However, there is some data about candidate’s focus on raising money through display advertising.

Since January 2007, presidential candidates launched 277 million display ad impressions. And like in the primaries, Obama has taken the lead here. According to research by Nielsen Online AdRelevance, Barack Obama ran over 70 million display ads in January. Contrast that with John McCain’s 19 million display ad views.

Most of the ads are run on Yahoo, who is the leader for display advertising (Google tops search advertising). Recent numbers say that display ads make up about 21% of all online advertising.

I noticed that Obama, Clinton, and McCain all have very targeted sites with splash pages and home pages asking for contributions. Incidentally all three also have blogs.

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13 comments on “Obama Steps Up Online Advertising on Campaign”

SteveRosenbaum Says:

February 22nd, 2008 at 11:35 pm

I wonder how much came from Oprah?
Mike Montague Says:

February 23rd, 2008 at 12:24 am

70 million ad displays in one month is insane!
GoWFB Says:

February 23rd, 2008 at 2:19 am

Those are some amazing figures!
Futon-Matt Says:

February 24th, 2008 at 11:40 am

Those numbers are staggering, that’s so much.
free xbox 360 Says:

February 24th, 2008 at 4:06 pm

i stumble allot and it seems every other page is on obama.

70 million displays is nuts aswell
Jayson Says:

February 24th, 2008 at 7:01 pm

70 million in January!! I guess advertising works, it would appear that he’s on his way to the white house.

Do the politicians actually write on their blogs? I wonder if they rank well for things they stand for e.g. gun control or immigration? If I was running, I’d optimize for my competitors keywords…just for fun.
Steven Bradley Says:

February 25th, 2008 at 1:31 pm

Wow. $70 million ads. Hard to fathom. Imagine what the next election will look once the candidates truly embrace the medium.
GoWFB Says:

February 25th, 2008 at 9:04 pm

This battle between the two Democrats has the whole world riveted, it is such an interesting tussle: a woman and a black man, both anomalies at the White House!
J.R. Jackson (a.k.a. MLM's $8-Million Man) Says:

August 20th, 2008 at 3:03 am

Where is Oprah?

Maybe she knows a sinking ship when she sees it.

J.R.

J.R. Jackson (a.k.a. MLM’s $8-Million Man)’s last blog post..Comment LUV
online advertising and seo Says:

September 21st, 2008 at 11:07 pm

I agree 70 million in online advertising is friggin’ sick! I know somebody that runs a little bit of their online campaign and on google the keyterm “barka obama” on google’s href=”http://www.angle45media.wordpress.com” title=”ppc”>PPChad about 450,000 queries in August, with that key term at about $1.5 a click, let’s say the #1 position only get about 20% ctr. That’s 90,000 clicks! For one month, ONE key term is costing the campaign $135,000 dollars. Now it goes to a fundraising site so I’m sure it’s profitable, the questions is how much?
online advertising and seo Says:

September 21st, 2008 at 11:08 pm

I agree 70 million in online advertising is friggin’ sick! I know somebody that runs a little bit of their online campaign and on google the keyterm “barka obama” on google’s href=”http://www.angle45media.wordpress.com” title=”ppc”>PPChad about 450,000 queries in August, with that key term at about $1.5 a click, let’s say the #1 position only get about 20% ctr. That’s 90,000 clicks! For one month, ONE key term is costing the campaign $135,000 dollars. Now it goes to a fundraising site so I’m sure it’s profitable, the questions is how much?
Xbox Says:

November 1st, 2008 at 1:15 pm

Probs to obama for this he knows who his market is
Reviewing a Perilous Transition - The News of February 2008 » Search Engine Optimization Blog Says:

December 20th, 2008 at 3:15 pm

[...] Obama Steps Up Online Advertising on Campaign Barack Obama set a record in January by raising the highest amount of any candidate in a primary race. Online advertising may have contributed to his astonishing success. [...]

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