will.i.am is an Obama boy

Barack Obama enjoyed the highest number of online video viewers in March, compared to other presidential candidates, reports Nielsen Online.

The research group reported "very little viewer overlap" between candidates, suggesting watchers have already committed to whom they plan to vote for.

All told, Obama's website drew 518,000 unique visitors in March alone. Hillary Clinton lagged significantly behind at 351,000 uniques, and John McCain had only 38,000.

The findings were released in Nielsen Online's March 2008 VideoCensus figures, which cover growth in online video consumption. (See more VideoCensus data, including tables, in the coverage by MarketingCharts.)

Obama's "change you can believe in" stance was also adopted by other viral video efforts, most of which were not officially sanctioned by the Obama campaign. Hip-hop artist will.i.am launched a musical mash-up of Obama's Yes We Can speech, which inspired other appropriations. And influential nonprofit MoveOn.org, sometimes credited for muzzling Facebook's Beacon, launched a heavily-promoted UGC video campaign dubbed Obama in 30 Seconds.

Early this year, Clinton made waves with an emotionally resonant commercial dubbed "Three AM" by viewers. In March it was revealed that the young girl in the ad, who so poignantly drove its theme home, is an Obama supporter of voting age.