Nielsen: 2.9M subscribers received Obama VP text

Although the media scooped Sen. Barack Obama's selection of running mate Sen. Joseph Biden before the Obama campaign could dispatch text alerts with the news, consumer research firm Nielsen Mobile reports that 2.9 million U.S. mobile subscribers received a text message from the presumptive Democratic nominee over the course of Friday, Saturday and Sunday. According to Nielsen, it derived the Obama text total by monitoring shortcode marketing via an opt-in panel that reports on the billing activity for more than 40,000 subscriber lines in the U.S. "While much has been said of the timing and the scoop by news outlets, Obama's VP text-message still ranks as one of the most important text messages even sent and one of the most successful brand engagements using mobile media," writes Nielsen Mobile director of insights Nic Covey in an analyst note. "The value of the message goes far beyond the 26 words and 2.9 million recipients. Here, Obama branded himself as cutting edge, inflated the already enormous press attention paid to his VP pick and further established a list of supporters' most coveted form of contact: their cell phone numbers."

For more on the Obama text alert:
- read this Wall Street Journal article

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