CBS’s back-to-back “Ghost Whisperer” special presentations were the number one and number-three ranked primetime telecasts on broadcast TV for Friday, December 26, 2008.
CBS’s “Numb3rs” special was sandwiched in between, in second place.

RANK
NAME
NETWORK
VIEWERS (P2+)

1
GHOST WHISPERER-SPECIAL(S)-12/26/2008
CBS
7,795,000

2
NUMB3RS-SPECIAL(S)-12/26/2008
CBS
6,690,000

3
GHOST WHISPERER 9PM-SP(S)-12/26/2008
CBS
6,509,000

4
SMARTER THAN 5TH SP-12/26(S)-12/26/2008
FOX
5,678,000

5
20/20-FRI
ABC
5,672,000

6
DONT FORGET LYR SP-12/26(S)-12/26/2008
FOX
5,378,000

7
DATELINE 12/26(S)-12/26/2008
NBC
5,234,000

8
FUEGO EN LA SANGRE FRI
UNI
4,773,000

9
CUIDADO CON EL ANGEL FRI
UNI
4,294,000

10
SUPERNANNY SP-12/26(S)-12/26/2008
ABC
3,780,000

Source: The Nielsen Company (December 26, 2008).

Overall, CBS won the night with an average audience of almost 8.3 million viewers, while ABC took second place with almost 5.8 million average viewers. FOX and NBC claimed third and fourth places …

CBS’s “CSI” and “Eleventh Hour” special presentations were the number one and number-two ranked primetime telecasts on broadcast TV for Thursday, December 25, 2008.
NBC’s “Deal Or No Deal” special rounded out the top three.

RANK
NAME
NETWORK
VIEWERS (P2+)

1
CSI – SPECIAL(S)-12/25/2008
CBS
8,029,000

2
ELEVENTH HOUR – SPECIAL(S)-12/25/2008
CBS
7,370,000

3
DEAL OR NO DEAL 12/25(S)-12/25/2008
NBC
6,524,000

4
WITHOUT A TRACE 8PM SPCL(S)-12/25/2008
CBS
5,877,000

5
UGLY BETTY SP-12/25(S)-12/25/2008
ABC
3,606,000

6
PRIVATE PRACTICE SP-12/25(S)-12/25/2008
ABC
3,521,000

7
OFFICE 12/25-A(S)-12/25/2008
NBC
3,384,000

8
GREY’S ANATOMY-THU 9PM SP(S)-12/25/2008
ABC
3,366,000

9
KITCHEN NGHTMR SP-XMAS 9P(S)-12/25/2008
FOX
2,970,000

10
OFFICE 12/25-B(S)-12/25/2008
NBC
2,800,000

Source: The Nielsen Company (December 25, 2008).

Overall, CBS won the night with an average audience of almost 7.1 million viewers, while NBC took second place with almost 5.4 million average viewers. …

CBS’s “CSI” and “Criminal Minds” special presentations were the number one and number-two ranked primetime telecasts on broadcast TV for Wednesday, December 24, 2008.
NBC’s “Movie of the Week” rounded out the top three.

RANK
NAME
NETWORK
VIEWERS (P2+)

1
CSI: NY – SPCL(S)-12/24/2008
CBS
6,918,000

2
CRIMINAL MINDS – SPCL(S)-12/24/2008
CBS
6,461,000

3
NBC MOVIE OF WEEK-WE12/24(S)-12/24/2008
NBC
5,292,000

4
WONDERFUL WORLD DISNEY SP(S)-12/24/2008
ABC
4,567,000

5
BONES SP-XMAS EVE 8P(S)-12/24/2008
FOX
4,354,000

6
BONES SP-XMAS EVE 9P(S)-12/24/2008
FOX
3,823,000

7
GARY UNMARRIED – SPCL(S)-12/24/2008
CBS
3,514,000

8
OLD CHRISTINE – SPCL(S)-12/24/2008
CBS
3,477,000

9
FLIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS(S)-12/24/2008
CW
1,844,000

10
DON FRANCISCO PRSTA 12/24(S)-12/24/2008
UNI
1,816,000

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

Overall, CBS won the night with an average audience of just over 5.6 million viewers, while NBC took second place with almost …

According to Nielsen, in November, NYTimes.com was the top U.S.-based online newspaper site, while MSNBC Digital Network (MSNBC) was the top online current events and news destination, Editor & Publisher reported this week.
The NY Times’ website drew just over 20 million unique visitors in November — a 10% increase over unique traffic to the site last November.

CBS’s “The Mentalist” and “NCIS” special presentations were the number one and number-two ranked primetime telecasts on broadcast TV for Tuesday, December 23, 2008.
NBC’s “Law And Order: SVU” rounded out the top three.

RANK
NAME
NETWORK
VIEWERS (P2+)

1
MENTALIST, THE-10PM SPCL(S)-12/23/2008
CBS
10,676,000

2
NCIS 9P-SPECIAL(S)-12/23/2008
CBS
10,598,000

3
LAW AND ORDER:SVU
NBC
7,052,000

4
HOUSE
FOX
6,739,000

5
HOW GRINCH STOLE XMAS-TUE(S)-12/23/2008
ABC
6,524,000

6
HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS(S)-12/23/2008
CBS
6,428,000

7
LAW AND ORDER 12/23(S)-12/23/2008
NBC
6,175,000

8
LAW AND ORDER:SVU 12/23(S)-12/23/2008
NBC
6,034,000

9
FUEGO EN LA SANGRE TUE
UNI
4,840,000

10
CUIDADO CON EL ANGEL TUE
UNI
4,696,000

Source: The Nielsen Company (December 23, 2008).

Overall, CBS won the night with an average audience of just over 9.2 million viewers, while NBC took second place with almost 6.4 million average viewers. …

NBA fans will have quite a few presents to unwrap on Christmas Day, with none bigger than the Boston Celtics-Los Angeles Lakers matchup on ABC. The teams square off for the first time since last year’s NBA Finals. When the Celtics defeated the Lakers for their 17th championship in June, the series received an average of 14.9 million viewers, the most for the NBA Finals in five years.
Since ABC obtained NBA broadcasting rights in 2002, the network’s Christmas Day games have averaged a 4.1 rating and 6.9 million viewers nationally. …

It’s official now that we are in a recession, one that has been particularly tough on the retail sector because consumer spending is the lowest it has been in years. However, these past few weeks we have seen a surprising uptick in traffic across the sites we track in our Nielsen Online Holiday Shopping Index.

With curtailed consumer spending widely forecast this holiday season, retailers might be expected to concentrate their TV ads on hard-hitting sale messaging aimed at price-conscious viewers.
But according to an analysis of the most effective holiday retail TV ads, released Tuesday by Nielsen IAG, retailers did not appear to increase the proportion of promotional ads in the mix this year. 
About half of all TV ads so far this holiday season (Nov. 17 – Dec. 14) have been brand-focused, while the other half have been devoted to sales/price-focused messages — as was the case during the 2007 …

The launch of Zyrtec OTC and its private label equivalent, Private Label Cetirizine, in early 2008 triggered strong incremental growth in the over-the-counter (OTC) allergy medication market in the U.S., a new analysis by NielsenHealth and Wolters Kluwer Health reports.
According to Nielsen and Wolters Kluwer, the OTC oral/nasal allergy market grew by about 30% in the first half of 2008, compared with same period in 2007.
Like Zyrtec OTC, PL Cetirizine had rapid uptake, accounting for approximately one-third of the OTC cetirizine market’s patient volume during the spring 2008 allergy season.  Zyrtec …

RANK
NAME
NETWORK
DAY
VIEWERS (P2+)

1
FUEGO EN LA SANGRE MON-12/15/2008
UNI
Monday
5,060,000

2
CUIDADO CON EL ANGEL MON-12/15/2008
UNI
Monday
4,871,000

3
FUEGO EN LA SANGRE TUE-12/16/2008
UNI
Tuesday
4,852,000

4
FUEGO EN LA SANGRE WED-12/17/2008
UNI
Wednesday
4,725,000

5
CUIDADO CON EL ANGEL TUE-12/16/2008
UNI
Tuesday
4,723,000

6
CUIDADO CON EL ANGEL WED-12/17/2008
UNI
Wednesday
4,692,000

7
FUEGO EN LA SANGRE FRI-12/19/2008
UNI
Friday
4,586,000

8
CUIDADO CON EL ANGEL THU-12/18/2008
UNI
Thursday
4,543,000

9
FUEGO EN LA SANGRE THU-12/18/2008
UNI
Thursday
4,489,000

10
CUIDADO CON EL ANGEL FRI-12/19/2008
UNI
Friday
4,325,000

Source: The Nielsen Company (December 15, 2008 – December 21, 2008)