The ongoing financial crisis has had far-reaching effects in the U.S., where it has taken a toll on everything from Americans’ shopping habits to their retirement savings.
Could the dire economic conditions also be changing the way Americans watch TV?
Yes and no, according to a Nielsen report released Friday, which found that Americans are watching more cable news this year than they did last year. Between September 15, 2008 and October 19, 2008, tuning to cable news networks almost doubled, versus the same period last year, according to Nielsen.

According to Nielsen Online, Google Search accounted for more than half of all online searches in the month of September with an estimated 4.8 billion queries. Yahoo!, MSN, AOL, and Ask.com rounded out the top five.

RANK
Provider
Searches (000)
% of Searches

#
All Searches
8,089,226
100.00%

1
Google Search
4,825,556
59.70%

2
Yahoo! Search
1,464,478
18.10%

3
MSN/Windows Live Search
953,504
11.80%

4
AOL Search
335,187
4.10%

5
Ask.com Search
178,217
2.20%

6
My Web Search
53,825
0.70%

7
Comcast Search
51,935
0.60%

8
AT&T Worldnet Search
30,086
0.40%

9
NexTag Search
17,775
0.20%

10
Dogpile.com Search
17,574
0.20%

Source: Nielsen Online, MegaView Search -September 2008

View the full press release.

ABC’s “Dancing With the Stars” was the number one-ranked primetime telecast on broadcast TV for Monday, October 27, 2008. 
Game 5 of the MLB World Series, which aired on FOX, claimed second place, and CBS’s “Two And A Half Men” rounded out the top three.

Rank
Program
Network
Viewers (P2+)

1
DANCING WITH THE STARS
ABC
18,876,000

2
FOX WORLD SERIES GAME 5(S)-10/27/2008
FOX
13,237,000

3
TWO AND A HALF MEN
CBS
11,881,000

4
CSI: MIAMI
CBS
10,587,000

5
SAMANTHA WHO?
ABC
10,470,000

6
GARY UNMARRIED-MON 930 SP(S)-10/27/2008
CBS
8,654,000

7
BOSTON LEGAL
ABC
8,581,000

8
HEROES
NBC
8,189,000

9
BIG BANG THEORY, THE
CBS
7,932,000

10
HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER
CBS
7,260,000

Source: The Nielsen Company (October 27, 2008).

Overall, ABC won the night with an average audience of almost 14.2 million viewers, while FOX …

RANK
PROGRAM
NETWORK
DAYS
VIEWERS (P2+)

1
NFL REGULAR SEASON – L (BRONCOS/PATRIOTS)
ESPN
MONDAY
10,822,000

2
WIZARDS OF WAVERLY PLACE
DSNY
SUNDAY
4,920,000

3
SPONGEBOB
NICK
SATURDAY
4,685,000

4
WIZARDS OF WAVERLY PLACE
DSNY
SUNDAY
4,587,000

5
SPONGEBOB
NICK
SATURDAY
4,418,000

6
THE OREILLY FACTOR
FOXNC
WEDNESDAY
4,390,000

7
SPONGEBOB
NICK
SATURDAY
4,354,000

8
WWE ENTERTAINMENT (WWE RAW)
USA
MONDAY
4,320,000

9
WWE ENTERTAINMENT (WWE RAW)
USA
MONDAY
4,238,000

10
THE OREILLY FACTOR
FOXNC
THURSDAY
4,171,000

Source: The Nielsen Company (October 20, 2008 – October 26, 2008).

Rank
Program
Network
Viewers (P2+)

1
CSI
CBS
19,492,000

2
DANCING WITH THE STARS
ABC
18,497,000

3
NCIS
CBS
17,226,000

4
DANCING W/STARS RESULTS
ABC
16,350,000

5
DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES
ABC
15,953,000

6
FOX WORLD SERIES GAME 4(S)
FOX
15,479,000

7
MENTALIST, THE
CBS
15,282,000

8
CRIMINAL MINDS
CBS
15,012,000

9
FOX WORLD SERIES GAME 1(S)
FOX
14,634,000

10
TWO AND A HALF MEN
CBS
14,630,000

Source: The Nielsen Company (October 20, 2008 – October 26, 2008).

Ken Cassar
I found myself at our client meetings last week in San Francisco, Seattle and LA, repeatedly making the point that CPGs had been increasing their online ad spend. This was based upon conversations that I’d been having with folks in the CPG space and the intense interest that we’ve been seeing lately from CPGs in online advertising. As I had a few spare minutes today, I checked AdRelevance to make sure that I was right about this. I was relieved to see that online …

Senator Barack Obama’s advertising in seven key swing states continues to surpass the number of ad units run by his presidential opponent, Sen. John McCain.
In Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, Obama placed 155% more ad units (62,022 vs. 24,273) than McCain between October 6 and October 26, 2008.
As of October 22, Obama had placed 150% more ad units (53,049 vs. 21,106) than McCain in those key battleground states.
Obama’s advertising continues to be heaviest in Florida, where he ran 18,909 ads between October 6 and October 26, outpacing …

CBS’s “Ghost Whisperer” and “Numbers” were the number one- and number two-ranked primetime telecasts on broadcast TV for Friday, October 24, 2008.
ABC’s “20/20″ rounded out the top three.

Rank
Program
Network
Viewers (P2+)

1
GHOST WHISPERER
CBS
10,142,000

2
NUMB3RS
CBS
9,334,000

3
20/20-FRI
ABC
7,504,000

4
DEAL OR NO DEAL-FRI
NBC
6,124,000

5
CRUSOE
NBC
6,088,000

6
SMARTER THAN 5TH GRADER
FOX
5,870,000

7
DON’T FORGET THE LYRICS
FOX
5,622,000

8
LIFE
NBC
5,589,000

9
FUEGO EN LA SANGRE FRI
UNI
5,519,000

10
EX LIST, THE
CBS
5,329,000

Source: The Nielsen Company (October 24, 2008).

Overall, CBS won the night with an average audience of almost 8.3 million viewers, while NBC took second place with just over 5.9 million average viewers. FOX and ABC claimed third and fourth places with roughly 5.7 million and 5.5 …

“High School Musical 3: Senior Year,” the new theatrical release from Disney, pulled in an astounding $42 million in opening grosses over the weekend to open at head of the class at the domestic Box Office, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
“Saw V”, the new horror sequel from Lionsgate, pulled in an impressive $30.5 million over the weekend to finish in second place.
Overall, industry-wide grosses at Box Office for the weekend reached $135 million – a 32% improvement over the same weekend last year.
Below are Box Office totals for the weekend of …

Still more data confirming the battered state of the U.S. economy: U.S. consumers are more price conscious than shoppers in other countries — even when their health is on the line.
According to a global survey conducted by Nielsen and the Association of the European Self-Medication Industry (AESGP), U.S. consumers place more importance on price and value when choosing over-the-counter (OTC) medications than consumers in other countries throughout Europe, Asia Pacific, North America, and the Middle East. 
Thirty percent of U.S. consumers consider price to be important when choosing OTC products, while …