Romney Web Ads Back with Gusto in September

UPDATE: Romney For President ran over 22 million Web ad impressions in September, according to Nielsen/NetRatings AdRelevance.

ClickZ_Campaign08_katefinal.jpgUPDATE: In November 2007, Nielsen Online AdRelevance, formerly Nielsen/NetRatings AdRelevance, provided ClickZ News with revised data on political advertisers for the months of April through September 2007. The amended information affected several stories, including this one, published by ClickZ during that time period. Detailed corrections can be found below the following original story.*

Original Story:
Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney was back online in a big way last month, aiming to rally supporters and establish a platform of popular conservative issues like government spending and border security. Romney For President ran over 22 million Web ad impressions in September, according to Nielsen/NetRatings AdRelevance. Meanwhile, perennial online advertiser John McCain 2008 reduced its display ad impressions from 191,000 in August to 25,000 impressions in September.

John McCain 2008 has gone from running millions of ads and multiple creatives in previous months to honing in on one main “No Surrender” slogan in September, intended to exhibit the candidate’s unwavering stance on the War in Iraq.

According to the AdRelevance data, Romney For President ran Web ads in May and June, but took a break in the summer months. As the McCain campaign did earlier in the primary season, the Romney campaign appears to be testing various messages and ad formats. It experimented with standard display formats and expandable PointRoll units in the spring, but dropped the rich media in September, sticking with simpler animated units.

The Romney camp also introduced new messages, urging people to “Join the Rally,” and recognizing grassroots support helping the campaign in Iowa.

Top sites for McCain ads included National Review Online, Dictionary.com, and conservative news site Newsmax. Romney ads also appeared on Newsmax, in addition to BellSouth’s ISP site, FanFiction.net, iWon, FoxNews.com, and on New York Times Business, Sports and International site sections.

AdRelevance did not detect ads from any other presidential campaigns in September.

Impressions
National Review 6,000
Dictionary.com 5,000
Newsmax 4,000
ezboard 3,000
Thesaurus.com 2,000
Answers.com 2,000
Merriam-Webster 2,000
CBS Sportsline MLB 1,000
Source: Nielsen/NetRatings AdRelevance, 2007

September 2007 Ads by
Romney For President
Ad Copy Call to Action Ad Sizes Number of Impressions
“Join the Rally Today. Mitt Romney.” n/a 728×90 Leaderboard, 160×600 Wide Skyscraper 10,322,000
“Are you ready to Rally? You Signed Up America. You kept the bus rolling to Ames.” “Join the Rally Today” 728×90 Leaderboard, 300×250 Medium Rectangle 8,296,000
“Change Begins with Us.” “Start Now!” 300×250 Medium Rectangle, 728×90 Leaderboard, 120×600 Skyscraper, 468×60 Full Banner 2,095,000
“Republicans Have to Get Our Own House in Order. Stop wasteful spending. Secure the boarders. Insist on high ethical standards. Change Begins with us. Change Washington. Mitt Romney for President. Strong. New. Leadership.” “Start Now!” 300×250 Medium Rectangle, 728×90 Leaderboard, 160×600 Wide Skyscraper, 120×600 Skyscraper, 468×60 Full Banner 1,744,000
Source: Nielsen/NetRatings AdRelevance, 2007

Note: Data were not available regarding sites where specific Romney For President ads ran.

Top Ten September 2007 Sites and Impressions by
Romney for President
Site/Sub-Site Impressions
BellSouth Internet Service 4,011,000
FanFiction.net 3,723,000
MSN Hotmail 1,889,000
iWon 1,383,000
AOL.com 1,016,000
FoxNews.com 709,000
New York Times 500,000
AOL.com News 412,000
iWon Email 383,000
iWon News 383,000
Source: Nielsen/NetRatings AdRelevance, 2007

* UPDATE:In November 2007, Nielsen Online AdRelevance, formerly Nielsen/NetRatings AdRelevance, provided ClickZ News with revised data on political advertisers for the months of April through September 2007. Although the measurement firm originally reported John McCain 2008 and Romney for President were the only presidential candidate campaigns running display ads in September, the campaign for Democratic Senator Barack Obama also ran display ads that month. Obama for America ran almost 12.5 million ads mainly on MSN; as in previous months, most aimed to drive attendance at campaign events.

It was originally reported by AdRelevance that McCain’s campaign ran just 25,000 ad impressions in September; however, revised data show John McCain 2008 ran a total of 294,000 impressions. Continuing the campaign’s online ad targeting focus on early caucus and primary states, 233,000 impressions were spotted on South Carolina’s TheState.com and 29,000 ran on Iowa’s DesMoinesRegister.com.

AdRelevance data on the number of ad impressions placed by Romney’s campaign, more than 22 million, is correct, according to the measurement firm. As in August, the campaign ran display ads on local sites such as Colorado’s Gazette.com, TheBostonChannel.com, Des Moines, Iowa’s KCCI, and ClickOnDetroit.com.

3,564,000

September 2007 Ads by
Obama for America
Ad Copy Call to Action Ad Sizes Number of Impressions
“Get to Know Barack Obama. Attend Invitations to Campaign Events” “Join Us” 300×250 Medium Rectangle 3,564,000
“Show your Support. Attend Local Campaign Events.” “Join Us” 300×250 Medium Rectangle, 468×60 Full Banner 2,850,000
“Sign Up for Invitations to Campaign Events” “Join Us” 160×600 Wide Skyscraper 2,749,000
“Get to Know Barack Obama at Local Campaign Events” “Join Us” 728×90 Leaderboard 2,606,000
“Meet Barack Obama. Sign Up for Invitations to Campaign Events” “Join Us” 120×600 Skyscraper 43,000
n/a “Join Us” 180×150 Rectangle, 300×250 Medium Rectangle 503,000
“Meet Barack Obama.” “Join Us” 728×90 Leaderboard 176,000
“Help Elect Obama President of the United States.” “Join Us” 120×600 Skyscraper 7,000
“Meet Barack Obama. Sign Up for Invitations to Campaign Events” “Join Us” 120×600 Skyscraper, 728×90 Leaderboard 3,650,000
“Barack Obama for President. Visit the Official Campaign Website.” “Join Us” 728×90 Leaderboard, 300×250 Medium Rectangle 1,460,000
“Get to Know Barack Obama. Sign Up for Invitations to Campaign Events” “Join Us” 300×250 Medium Rectangle, 728×90 Leaderboard 436,000
Source: Nielsen Online, AdRelevance, 2007

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