The New York Times reported Monday that NBC Universal may earn more than $1 billion in TV and online advertising sales for the Beijing Olympics.
The story noted that the largest TV advertisers have not changed in recent Olympics.  Six companies, including official sponsors like Coca-Cola and Visa, were among the top 10 spenders in both 2000 and 2004, according to data from Nielsen Monitor-Plus.
View the top 20 TV advertisers and advertising categories for the 2000 and 2004 Olympics.

RANK
NETWORK
DURATION (HOURS)
VIEWERS (P2+)

1
CBS
5,280
6,360,000

2
FOX
3,661
5,850,000

3
NBC
5,280
5,540,000

4
ABC
5,280
4,640,000

5
UNI
5,280
3,300,000

6
CW
3,120
1,520,000

7
TEL
5,280
1,070,000

8
MNT
2,880
980,000

9
TF
5,280
510,000

10
ION
5,280
390,000

11
AZA
5,212
110,000

Source: The Nielsen Company (July 3, 2008 – July 30, 2008)

FOX’s “So You Think You Can Dance” claimed the top spot in Nielsen’s ranking of the top primetime broadcast TV telecasts for Thursday, July 31, 2008 — beating out CBS’s “CSI” and “Flashpoint,” which placed second and third, respectively.

RANK
NAME
NETWORK
VIEWERS (P2+)

1
SO YOU THINK CN DANCE-THU
FOX
8,694,000

2
CSI
CBS
8,033,000

3
FLASHPOINT
CBS
7,677,000

4
BIG BROTHER 10-THU
CBS
6,392,000

5
DON’T FORGET LYRICS 7/31(S)-07/31/2008
FOX
5,895,000

6
HOPKINS
ABC
5,578,000

7
LAST COMIC STANDING 6
NBC
5,016,000

8
FUEGO EN LA SANGRE THU
UNI
4,717,000

9
AL DIABLO CON GUAPOS THU
UNI
4,467,000

10
FEAR ITSELF
NBC
3,856,000

Source: The Nielsen Company (July 31, 2008)

Overall, CBS (7,369,000 viewers) edged past FOX (7,306,000 viewers) to win the night.  NBC and ABC claimed distant third and fourth places — with …

The Times (London) reported Friday that luxury retailers have increased their UK advertising spending over the last year — despite tough economic times.
The story noted that, according to Nielsen Media Research, Tiffany and Louis Vuitton increased their UK ad spending by £200,000 and £1.6 million, respectively, during the last year ending in June.   Meanwhile, Clinique and L’Oréal and boosted ad spending on their premium cosmetics lines by roughly £800,000 each, Nielsen reported.

Advertisers are increasingly employing creative publicity stunts to get consumers’ attention, The New York Times reported Friday.
Recent outdoor campaigns that drew notice include a glass elevator in Manhattan painted to look like a giant Oreo dunking into a glass of milk and “pitvertising” in London by Right Guard. 
Such high-profile public pranks may be par for the course in an era defined by ad-savvy, often distracted consumers, Pete Blackshaw, Executive Vice President of Digital Strategic Services, Nielsen Online, told the Times.
“Advertisers are being pushed to creative extremes, partly because it’s just …