Controversial Ad 'Understands' Leads WSJ Chart
On this week's WSJ Presidential Ads Chart, nine new ads debut, with super PAC Priorities USA Action at the top with Understands. The controversial ad by the pro-Obama group features an employee of GST Steel who lost his job when Bain Capital shut down the plant. The worker goes on to tell the story of losing his health care, and his wife dying of cancer shortly after. With the help from paid advertising, the spot grabs over 725,000 views this week.
Obama grabs the number two spot with the new attack ad, Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan: Back to the Failed Top-Down Policies, which generated 420,000 views. The spot attacks Romney's VP pick, Paul Ryan, and his plans for entitlement programs and the budget. Obama also grabs the third and fourth spot with The Choice and Son of Boss, respectively.
Romney claims four spots on the chart this week, with Be Not Afraid coming in at number five. Be Not Afraid calls Obama's policies an attack on the freedom of religion. It's grabbed over 175,000 views this week. Right Choice, which comes in at number six is a controversial ad attacking Obama for trying to roll back welfare work requirements. The spot snags 170,000 views.
Obama grabs four ads this week, Romney has four, and liberal groups round out the top ten with two ads.
This Week's Most-Watched Presidential Ads
| Rank | Last Week's Rank | Candidate / Supporting Group | Campaign | True Reach Views | % Change in Views |
Watch
|
|---|
|
1
|
New
|
Priorities USA Action
|
Understands
|
725,798
|
NEW
|
|
|
2
|
New
|
Barack Obama
|
Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan: Back to the Failed Top-Down Policies
|
424,071
|
NEW
|
|
|
3
|
1
|
Barack Obama
|
The Choice
|
254,518
|
-66%
|
|
|
4
|
New
|
Barack Obama
|
Son of Boss
|
248,519
|
NEW
|
|
|
5
|
New
|
Mitt Romney
|
Be Not Afraid
|
177,094
|
NEW
|
|
|
6
|
New
|
Mitt Romney
|
Right Choice
|
173,113
|
NEW
|
|
|
7
|
New
|
Mitt Romney
|
America Deserves Better
|
157,856
|
NEW
|
|
|
8
|
New
|
Barack Obama
|
Blatant
|
151,095
|
NEW
|
|
|
9
|
New
|
MoveOn.org
|
Pickpocket
|
130,558
|
NEW
|
|
|
10
|
Mew
|
Mitt Romney
|
Cherished Relationship
|
102,630
|
NEW
|
|
Source: Visible Measures
Note: True Reach counts the combined performance of the original campaign clips uploaded by candidates and supporting groups like Super PACs as well as the copies and derivative videos uploaded by audiences. This analysis doesn’t include Visible Measures’ paid-placement performance data or video views on private sites.
