CBS’s “Two and a Half Men,” “CSI: Miami,” “Old Christine,” “How I Met Your Mother,” and “The Big Bang Theory” claimed the top five slots in Nielsen’s ranking of the top primetime broadcast TV programs for Monday, August 4.
FOX’s tenth annual “Teen Choice Awards” also made the top ten.

RANK
NAME
NETWORK
VIEWERS (P2+)

1
TWO AND A HALF MEN
CBS
9,979,000

2
CSI: MIAMI
CBS
7,891,000

3
OLD CHRISTINE
CBS
7,599,000

4
HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER
CBS
6,362,000

5
BIG BANG THEORY, THE
CBS
6,299,000

6
NASHVILLE STAR
NBC
6,212,000

7
AMERICAN GLADIATORS
NBC
5,435,000

8
FUEGO EN LA SANGRE MON
UNI
4,844,000

9
AL DIABLO CON GUAPOS MON
UNI
4,559,000

10
2008 TEEN CHOICE AWARDS(S)-08/04/2008
FOX
4,436,000

Source: The Nielsen Company (August 4, 2008)

Overall, CBS won the night with an average audience of …

Television viewing in the U.S. spiked by 17% during the Atlanta Summer Olympic Games in 1996, while TV viewing in Australia during the 2000 Sydney Summer Games jumped by 39%, according to a recent Nielsen report analyzing media trends from past Olympics.
Nielsen’s report also found that advertising spending in Olympic host countries grew significantly in both the U.S. and Greece in the years following the 1996 and 2004 Olympics. 
Only Australia saw declines in ad spending following the 2000 summer Games.  Those decreases can be attributed to general cutbacks in spending in the …

Just one in seven people with savings in India are aware of mutual fund investment opportunities, Livemint.com (India) reported Tuesday.
Mutual funds are most popular in urban areas, as well as in northern India and in well-developed western states like Gujarat and Maharashtra, according to Kalyan Karmakar, Associate Director, Customized Research, Nielsen. 
Meanwhile, investors in the eastern and the southern regions of the country still focus on land and gold, Karmakar noted.
“There is a huge portion of India which is yet to participate and be a part of the mutual fund bandwagon,” he told Livemint.
Learn …

Despite continuing tough economic times, consumers won’t be skimping on school supplies this fall, according to data released Tuesday by Nielsen.
The back to school shopping season is poised to peak in mid-August, and Nielsen is forecasting U.S. consumers will spend $1.57 billion on school and office supplies this year — 2.6% growth. 
This year, however, the selling season may be shorter and more intense, Nielsen predicts — as consumers wait for more aggressive sales and promotions by retailers.
Grocery stores may also play a bigger role this fall, as consumers seek to conserve …

RANK
NAME
NETWORK
VIEWERS (P2+)

1
CLOSER, THE
TNT
7,358,000

2
NASCAR SPRINT CUP L (POCONO)
ESPN
6,191,000

3
WWE ENTERTAINMENT (WWE RAW)
USA
5,524,000

4
WWE ENTERTAINMENT (WWE RAW)
USA
4,985,000

5
LAW & ORDER: CI (ORIG)
USA
4,926,000

6
BURN NOTICE
USA
4,863,000

7
SAVING GRACE
TNT
4,778,000

8
HANNAH MONTANA
DSNY
4,624,000

9
MONK
USA
4,605,000

10
PSYCH
USA
4,290,000

Source: The Nielsen Company (July 28, 2008 – August 3, 2008)

RANK
NAME
NETWORK
VIEWERS (P2+)

1
AMERICA’S GOT TALENT
NBC
13,846,000

2
WIPEOUT
ABC
9,699,000

3
TWO AND A HALF MEN
CBS
9,345,000

4
SO YOU THINK CN DANCE-WED
FOX
8,841,000

5
CRIMINAL MINDS
CBS
8,702,000

6
SO YOU THINK CN DANCE-THU
FOX
8,694,000

7
NCIS
CBS
8,501,000

8
CSI: MIAMI
CBS
8,439,000

9
60 MINUTES
CBS
8,077,000

10
CSI
CBS
8,033,000

Source: The Nielsen Company (July 28, 2008 - August 3, 2008)

For the second Friday in a row, CBS’s “Numbers” and “Ghost Whisperer” were, respectively, the number one- and number three-ranked primetime telecasts on broadcast TV.
NBC’s “Dateline” was again sandwiched between the two, in second place.  The network’s back-to-back telecasts of “Most Outrageous Moments,” which claimed the 5th and 10th spots, also made the top ten.

RANK
NAME
NETWORK
VIEWERS (P2+)

1
NUMB3RS 9PM
CBS
6,107,000

2
DATELINE FRI
NBC
5,550,000

3
GHOST WHISPERER
CBS
4,986,000

4
20/20-FRI
ABC
4,169,000

5
MOST OUTRG MOMENTS 830P
NBC
4,155,000

6
SWINGTOWN
CBS
4,062,000

7
FRIDAY NIGHT SMACKDOWN
CW
4,020,000

8
AL DIABLO CON GUAPOS FRI
UNI
3,839,000

9
FUEGO EN LA SANGRE FRI
UNI
3,530,000

10
MOST OUTRG MOMENTS 8P
NBC
3,519,000

Source: The Nielsen Company (August 1, 2008)

Overall, CBS won the night with an average audience of …

Nielsen Online is partnering with Adweek Media (a unit of The Nielsen Company) to produce this year’s Buzz Awards. 
The competition celebrates innovative advertising and marketing efforts, with prizes awarded across seventeen categories, ranging from viral marketing, radio and print, to wireless promotion, public relations, and social media.
The Grand Prize winner will receive a four-color ad spread in Adweek, Brandweek, and Mediaweek (valued at $64,100).
The deadline for submissions is August 18.  Click here to enter.

Nielsen and Digital Media Group (DMG) announced last week the results of their joint study of the effectiveness of LCD screen advertising in the Shanghai subway.  The research is the first of its kind conducted in China.
Results of an initial survey conducted during two weeks in late June show that DMG’s 4,110 multimedia displays on four Shanghai subway lines were viewed by 3,055,000 passengers.
DMG and Nielsen will track multimedia subway display viewership on a regular, long term basis in China.

TIME reported Monday that the iPhone may provide the burgeoning cell-phone gaming market with just the boost it needs to establish itself as a portable gaming mainstay.
Currently, millions of Americans play games on the portable Nintendo DS and Sony PSP every day — but, the story noted, fewer than 10% of cell-phone users in the U.S. do the same on their mobile phones, according to Nielsen Mobile.
Armed with a spate of newly improved downloadable games and ample hardware capabilities for running games, the iPhone seems poised to lure gamers away from …