Game seven of the closely contested American League Championship Series between the Boston Red Sox and the Tampa Bay Rays drew the largest ever TV audience of any MLB playoff game aired on cable, Nielsen reported Tuesday.  
The game, which aired on TBS Sunday night, drew almost 13.4 million average viewers, easily surpassing game four of last year’s Indians v. Yankees division series, which claimed second place overall with 9.2 million average viewers.
TV viewership of the ALCS games surged after the Red Sox overcame a seven-run deficit in game five to beat the …

ABC’s “Dancing With The Stars” was the number one-ranked primetime broadcast for October 20, 2008.  The telecast drew almost 18.5 million average viewers Monday evening.
CBS’s “Two And A Half Men” (14.6 million average viewers) and “CSI: Miami” (13.5 million average viewers) rounded out the top three programs for the night.

Rank
Program
Network
Viewers (P2+)

1
DANCING WITH THE STARS
ABC
18,497,000

2
TWO AND A HALF MEN
CBS
14,630,000

3
CSI: MIAMI
CBS
13,505,000

4
WORST WEEK
CBS
9,875,000

5
SAMANTHA WHO?
ABC
9,636,000

6
HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER
CBS
9,446,000

7
BIG BANG THEORY, THE
CBS
9,331,000

8
HEROES
NBC
8,510,000

9
BOSTON LEGAL
ABC
8,137,000

10
CHUCK
NBC
6,872,000

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

Overall, ABC won the night with an average audience of almost 13.7 million viewers, while CBS …

Rank
Program
Network
Viewers (P2+)

1
CSI
CBS
19,275,000

2
NCIS
CBS
18,038,000

3
DANCING WITH THE STARS
ABC
17,765,000

4
DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES
ABC
15,485,000

5
MENTALIST, THE
CBS
14,935,000

6
DANCING W/STARS RESULTS
ABC
14,816,000

7
GREY’S ANATOMY-THU 9PM
ABC
14,803,000

8
TWO AND A HALF MEN
CBS
14,719,000

9
60 MINUTES
CBS
14,533,000

10
HOUSE
FOX
13,269,000

Source: The Nielsen Company (October 13, 2008 – October 19, 2008).

RANK
PROGRAM
NETWORK
DAYS
VIEWERS (P2+)

1
MLB ALCS (RED SOX-RAYS 7)
TBSC
SUNDAY
13,357,000

2
NFL REGULAR SEASON L (GIANTS/BROWNS)
ESPN
MONDAY
11,422,000

3
PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE(S)-10/15/2008
FOXNC
WEDNESDAY
9,068,000

4
SR/PRES DEBATE 3 2008(S)-10/15/2008
CNN
WEDNESDAY
8,931,000

5
MLB ALCS (RED SOX-RAYS 6)
TBSC
SATURDAY
8,928,000

6
ANDERSON COOPER 360
CNN
WEDNESDAY
7,795,000

7
SPONGEBOB
NICK
MONDAY
7,666,000

8
ON THE RECORD W/GRETA
FOXNC
WEDNESDAY
7,394,000

9
MLB ALCS (RAYS-RED SOX 5)
TBSC
THURSDAY
7,211,000

10
SPONGEBOB
NICK
MONDAY
5,778,000

Source: The Nielsen Company (October 13, 2008 – October 19, 2008).

Despite higher prices for candy and costume accessories this year, U.S. consumers are expected to purchase more than $1.9 billion in candy for Halloween, Nielsen reported Tuesday.
Costume hair coloring products showed the largest price increase — up 126% to an average of $4.42 this year.  On average, candy prices are up 2.9% this year, with chocolate candy prices up an average of 4.2%.
Despite that price hike, chocolate candy is expected to account for $1.2 billion of Halloween candy sales, while non-chocolate candy will account for nearly $672 million, according to Nielsen. 

Online buzz surrounding Senators Barack Obama and John McCain remained strong during the three presidential debates in September and October, but voters’ engagement in the debate TV broadcasts declined significantly after the first debate, according to an analysis released Tuesday by Nielsen IAG and Nielsen Online.
“Engagement” refers to the amount of attention paid to a television program by the average viewer.  Nielsen measures TV engagement by questioning a representative panel of viewers about their recall of specific telecasts’ content.
Online consumer discussion of both candidates spiked before and after each of the four …

Calvin Klein, Christian Dior, and Gucci are the most popular luxury brands among United Arab Emirates shoppers, according to Nielsen survey results released Monday.
Three out of five UAE consumers have shopped at Calvin Klein and Christian Dior, while one in three have shopped at Gucci, Nielsen reported. 
Globally, UAE shoppers ranked as the second biggest purchasers of Gucci (31%) and Chanel (21%), and third in terms of purchases of Giorgio Armani (19%). 
If money were no object, UAE survey respondents named Chanel and Louis Vuitton as the most coveted luxury brands.

CBS’s “Ghost Whisperer” (8.97 million average viewers) and “Numbers” (8.67 million average viewers) were the number one- and number two-ranked primetime broadcasts for Friday, October 17, 2008. 
The premiere of NBC’s “Crusoe” rounded out the top three, with almost 7.4 million average viewers.

RANK
PROGRAM
NETWORK
VIEWERS (P2+)

1
GHOST WHISPERER
CBS
8,974,000

2
NUMB3RS
CBS
8,676,000

3
CRUSOE
NBC
7,383,000

4
20/20-FRI
ABC
6,935,000

5
EX LIST, THE
CBS
6,293,000

6
LIFE
NBC
5,894,000

7
SMARTER THAN 5TH 10/17-9P(S)-10/17/2008
FOX
5,616,000

8
SMARTER THAN 5TH GRADER
FOX
5,187,000

9
SUPERNANNY
ABC
5,116,000

10
WIFE SWAP
ABC
4,954,000

Source: The Nielsen Company (October 17, 2008).

Overall, CBS won the night with an average audience of almost 8.0 million viewers, while NBC took second place with almost 6.9 million average viewers. ABC and FOX claimed third and fourth …

Mark Wahlberg’s action thriller “Max Payne,” a movie based on the popular video game, grabbed the top weekend box office spot with an $18M take. “Beverly Hills Chihuahua,” fell to second place with $11.2M after spending its first two weeks at the top of the pack. “The Secret Life Of Bees,” which featured music and screen star power from Queen Latifah, Oscar-winner Jennifer Hudson, Alicia Keys, and Dakota Fanning, finished third ahead of “W.” the bio pic of Bush 43 from Oliver Stone. The industry’s $103 million in collective grosses …

With the presidential campaign of Senator Barack Obama touting record political contributions for the month of September, Nielsen Claritas has taken a look at the source of Sen. Obama’s and Sen. McCain contributions through the lens of lifestyle attributes and socio-economic data, such as income, age, occupation, education, and household composition.
Nielsen Claritas’s PRIZM system breaks down the U.S. population into 66 segments based on these attributes. 
Obama leads McCain in dollars and the number of donations received from the 10 PRIZM segments of the U.S. population that have made the most political contributions through …