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Obama ad draws 33.6 million

Combined news services

October 31, 2008

Barack Obama's 30-minute "infomercial" Wednesday night drew 33.6 million viewers across multiple broadcast and cable networks, according to the Nielsen survey.

It cost his campaign around $4 million for the 8 p.m. spot run simultaneously on CBS, NBC, Fox, BET, Univision, MSNBC and TV One that profiled several Americans struggling with a tough economy, and Obama offering his ideas for a turnaround.

The only other time a presidential candidate bought half an hour of TV time was in 1992 when billionaire Ross Perot ran as an independent. His spot was watched by 22.7 million people, according to Nielsen.