CBS’s “Survivor: Gabon” beat out post-debate analyses of the vice presidential debate between Sarah Palin and Joe Biden to claim the slot as the most-watched primetime telecast on broadcast TV for Thursday, October 2, 2008.  Almost 13.1 million average viewers tuned in to watch the second episode of the new “Survivor” season.
Post-debate coverage on ABC and NBC rounded out the top three, with 9.778 million and 9.777 million average viewers, respectively.
CBS and FOX’s post-debate coverage also made the top ten, drawing almost 8 million and just over 4 million average viewers, …

Each week, Nielsen Sports’ analysts offer their take on the biggest sports media headlines.
College Football: Quartet Of Upsets
Oregon State’s stunning upset of top ranked USC was only the harbinger of what was to come in a wild weekend of college football upsets. 
Oregon State’s victory last Thursday night drew 6.3 Million TV viewers, the largest audience for ESPN’s Thursday Night College Football this season.  The next day, the University of Michigan overcame a 19-point deficit to beat the (then) undefeated Wisconsin Badgers in front of 1.3 million ESPN viewers.
Meanwhile, the Southeastern …

Trying to tap the U.S. Hispanic market?  Don’t underestimate the influence of children in Hispanic households, Doug Anderson, Vice President, Research & Development, Nielsen Consumer Panel Services, writes in the October issue of Nielsen’s “Consumer Insight” online newsletter.
In households where adults speak English less well, children often wield significant influence on purchase decisions, from choice of category or brand to playing the role of negotiator with vendors, Anderson notes.  Overall, two-thirds of the Hispanics in the U.S. who speak only English are children.

In the past four years, organic products have been one of the fastest growing market segments within the food industry, logging growth rates between 13% and 33%.
That trend may now be changing, according to Nielsen, which recently released data showing a slowdown in organic dollar sales and unit sales growth in the four weeks ending Sept. 6.
Dollar sales of organics grew by just 13%, while unit sales grew by 8% in the four weeks between August 9 and Sept. 6, according to Nielsen.  In contrast, dollar sales of organic products grew by …

CBS’s “CSI:NY” and “Criminal Minds” were the number one- and number two-ranked primetime telecasts on broadcast TV for Wednesday, October 1, 2008.
NBC’s “America’s Got Talent” rounded out the top three.
Three ABC premieres also made the top ten: “Private Practice,” “Dirty Sexy Money,” and “Pushing Daisies.”

RANK
NAME
NETWORK
VIEWERS (P2+)

1
CSI: NY
CBS
14,878,000

2
CRIMINAL MINDS
CBS
14,780,000

3
AMERICA’S GOT TALENT-WED
NBC
12,693,000

4
BONES
FOX
10,034,000

5
PRIVATE PRACTICE
ABC
8,163,000

6
KNIGHT RIDER
NBC
7,766,000

7
DIRTY SEXY MONEY
ABC
7,020,000

8
GARY UNMARRIED
CBS
6,915,000

9
OLD CHRISTINE
CBS
6,801,000

10
PUSHING DAISIES
ABC
6,333,000

Source: The Nielsen Company (October 1, 2008).

Overall, CBS won the night with an average audience of almost 12.2 million viewers, while NBC took second place with almost 8.6 million average viewers. ABC and FOX …

Despite finger-pointing from both sides, Barack Obama and John McCain’s presidential campaigns have run almost the same number of negative local campaign ads, Nielsen Monitor-Plus reported Thursday.
From June 3, when the primaries ended, through Sept. 7, the most recent reporting period, the McCain campaign ran 76,192 negative ads against Obama.  During the same time period, the Obama campaign placed 75,246 negative commercials against McCain.
Negative advertising by both candidates and the “527” groups that support them has concentrated in the top battleground states, led by Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.

Clickz reports that the number of active home Internet users increased in August in eight of the 10 countries tracked by Nielsen Online.
Complete data on home Internet users is below.

Country
July 2008
August 2008
% Growth

United States
152,690,056
153,144,180
0.3%

Japan
49,049,579
50,128,725
2.2%

Germany
36,773,740
37,795,221
3.74%

United Kingdom
28,112,820
28,751,970
2.27%

France
26,151,352
26,984,002
3.18%

Brazil
23,715,159
24,331,212
2.6%

Italy
19,561,913
20,646,132
5.54%

Spain
15,782,617
15,707,229
-0.48%

Australia
11,452,652
11,169,844
-2.47%

Switzerland
3,762,984
3,771,663
0.23%

Source: Nielsen Online (August 1 – 31, 2008).

Within the whirlwind of negative news regarding the economy and the advertising outlook, I found a significant, welcome trend in the IAB’s recent revenue report covering the first half of this year. I’m scratching my head trying to understand why more hasn’t been made of this, because it portends hugely positive things for the online space.
The IAB recently announced a 15.2% year-over-year growth rate for Internet advertising for the first half of 2008. When you dissect the 15.2% number, some interesting details emerge. Out of nine industries tracked, only four …

Internet Retailer reports that online giant eBay is the most searched on retailer on the Internet, according to Nielsen Online. The term “ebay” received nearly 17 million searches during the month of August.  The search numbers are based on Nielsen Online’s MegaView Search Custom Data.
The term “webkinz” topped the list of product searches in August, according to Nielsen Online. The web-linked stuffed animals were searched for more than 5.5 million times online. The Toys and Games categories dominated product searches for the month.
Below are the top 10 retailer and product Web …

This week begins Major League Baseball playoffs in the National League (Philadelphia Phillies vs. Milwaukee Brewers and Los Angeles Dodgers vs. Chicago Cubs) and American League (Boston Red Sox vs. Los Angeles Angels and Chicago White Sox vs. Tampa Bay Rays).
Historically, at least where league championship series are involved, ratings have been significantly higher when teams from major markets, such as Chicago, Boston and Los Angeles, are involved. A breakdown of those matchups will be featured prior to the upcoming NL and AL championship series.
Below are historical ratings since 2000 …