In an effort to boost the industry's use of internet advertising, political ad firm MSHC Partners released research showing how much its $3 million in online advertising billings during the presidential campaign helped the Kerry campaign. MSHC bought more than 800 million impressions over more than 100 websites, indicating an approximate CPM of $3.75. Of Republicans and independents who saw the online ads around the time of the Democratic Convention, 14 percent showed a boost in favorability toward Kerry. When MSHC used the web heavily to try to influence the perception of who won the debates, the firm found it moved opinion from 49 percent pegging Kerry as the winner up to 55 percent giving him the nod. The ads drove about six million people to the Kerry website, a clickrate of about 0.75 percent. The banner campaign also raised $2.5 million directly and registered 11,000 Democrats living abroad.