The penetration of U.S. households completely unready for the transition to digital television dropped from 7.4% in November to 6.8% in December, Nielsen reported Friday.
Non-Hispanic households continue to be more ready for the transition than Hispanic households, but the rate of Hispanic readiness is picking up. After seeing no change in unready Hispanic households from October to November, that percentage dropped from 12.4% to 11.5% in December.

NFL games airing in primetime are breaking records this season, and they share one common denominator: the Dallas Cowboys.
First it was the thrilling September 15th matchup with the Philadelphia Eagles on ESPN’s Monday Night Football.  The Cowboys prevailed in a 41-37 shootout watched by 18.6 million viewers, the most ever for a cable program.

Nielsen has issued a year-end look at the most popular trends among Americans during 2008, covering everything from the top TV programs to the most popular consumer packaged goods.
William P. Young’s ”The Shack” was the top-selling fiction book through November 30.
Among non-fiction books, “A New Earth,” by Eckhart Tolle was the top-seller.
The audio version of Tolle’s “A New Earth” was the top-selling audio book of the year.

Which charitable causes did American households give donations to during the past year?
According to Scarborough Research, that may depend on which city you live in.  The firm’s research found that the percentage of households contributing to specific types of causes differed from city to city. 
Below, Scarborough ranks the top U.S. cities, by percent of households that contributed to a wide range of organizations — political, religious, arts/cultural, healthcare/medical, and social care/welfare — during the past year.

Nearly one-fourth (24%) of online shoppers have spent more than $500 so far this holiday season, with 22% spending between $100-199 online, Nielsen reported Thursday. 
Most online shoppers surveyed by Nielsen (78%) cited the Web’s round-the-clock convenience as their primary reason for shopping online.
A majority of consumers made purchases from online retailers they already knew and trusted — 62% told Nielsen they ordered products from retailers they had shopped with in the past.  Search engines were also a popular way to find online retailers (38% of respondents), followed by offline catalogs (31% of respondents).  
In …

Third quarter data released Thursday by Nielsen showed a small decline in ad spending from January to September of this year.
Overall ad spending dropped 0.6% in the first nine months of 2008, compared to the same time period in 2007. 
The drop came despite overall growth in TV advertising.  Four of the top-five growing media were TV-based.

Nielsen has issued a year-end look at the most popular trends among Americans during 2008, covering everything from the top TV programs to the most popular consumer packaged goods.
It’s official: Americans love their carbs.  The Bread and Baked Goods category ranked number one for 2008 — both in terms of consumer purchases and retail sales.  According to Nielsen, 99% of U.S. homes purchased bread/baked goods at least once during the 52 weeks ending June 28, 2008.  The Bread/Baked Goods category raked in $18.3 billion in sales through November 1.  Other …

Having a website may no longer be optional for India’s travel agents and operators, according to Nielsen and the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA).
Nielsen and PATA’s most recent “India Outbound Travel Monitor” survey found that more than half of Indian travelers have used the Internet to search for information about destinations abroad. 
While traditional media like newspapers and magazines remain the primary source for travel advertising and information for many, the Internet has become a popular advertising channel, drawing greater attention from Indians traveling internationally.  
Among travelers from India’s smaller cities, the Internet …

Nielsen’s analysis of online video viewing habits in October shows that more than 5 billion video streams were viewed by almost 83 million YouTube users throughout the month.
Fox Interactive Media followed with 244 million streams and almost 18.5 million viewers. 
Hulu jumped from seventh place in September (142 million streams; 6.3 million viewers) to claim third place in October, with more than 206 million streams and 9 million viewers.

CBS’s “Criminal Minds” and “CSI: NY” were the number one and two-ranked primetime telecasts on
broadcast TV for Wednesday, December 17, 2008, drawing approximately 15.2 and 13.4 million average viewers, respectively.
NBC’s “Muppets Christmas Letter to Santa” special rounded out the top three, with 7.5 million average viewers.

Rank
Program
Network
Viewers (P2+)

1
CRIMINAL MINDS
CBS
15,160,000

2
CSI: NY
CBS
13,377,000

3
MUPPETS XMAS LTR TO SANTA(S)-12/17/2008
NBC
7,466,000

4
GARY UNMARRIED
CBS
7,378,000

5
OLD CHRISTINE
CBS
7,292,000

6
LAW AND ORDER
NBC
7,016,000

7
SECRET MLNR SP-12/17 8P(S)-12/17/2008
FOX
6,709,000

8
PRIVATE PRACTICE
ABC
6,610,000

9
LIFE
NBC
5,216,000

10
DIRTY SEXY MONEY
ABC
5,129,000

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

Overall, CBS won the night with an average audience of almost 12 million viewers,
while NBC took second place with almost 6.6 million average …