With all the anticipation surrounding Sunday’s big game, an analysis of national and local ratings from past Super Bowls provides insight into the viewership of this year’s matchup:

In terms of DMA’s (Designated Market Area), Phoenix is ranked 12th and Pittsburgh 23rd of the 56 metered markets. The 2006 Super Bowl featured a similar match-up with Seattle, ranked the 13th largest DMA, against Pittsburgh, then 22nd. That game received a 57.4 rating in Pittsburgh and 54.4 in Seattle (compared to 41.6 nationally).

From 1999-2008, the highest single-year metered market performance was delivered in Jacksonville …

Americans’ affinity for chocolate is widespread and well-known.  Its household penetration is 97.3 percent, and 96.7 percent of households repeatedly buy chocolate during the year.  In a twelve-month period, Americans bought chocolate candy on nearly 19 occasions.
But even this ubiquitous treat doesn’t seem to be immune to current economic conditions.  Since summer, equalized unit volume (EUV) has dropped uncharacteristically as consumers try to save money in every possible category.  Since July 2008, EUV sales have declined from 1.7 percent to 7.3 percent per month.  The category includes four segments: chocolate …

Despite the slowing economy, new product introductions in 2008 remained steady compared to 2007.  According to a new Nielsen report, 122,743 new UPCs were sold through U.S. grocery, drug and mass merchandiser channels, excluding Walmart. Of these, 39 percent were food and beverage items, 29 percent were general merchandise items such as DVDs, 20 percent were health and beauty items with the remaining 12 percent non-food grocery items such as paper products, diapers and detergent.
Of the more than 122,000 items introduced, 3,882 (3.2%) achieved more than $1 million in sales, …

Alex Burmaster
This article was originally featured in New Media Age Magazine.
The downturn in the economy has effectively rebooted the growth of the internet in terms of the time people spend online and the number of sites they visit. Over the first nine months of the year, people weren’t spending more time online than they did in the corresponding nine months the previous year. The average year-on-year growth each month, in terms of average time online per person, was just 1%.
Between March and June 2008, people actually averaged less time online …

FOX’s “American Idol-Thursday Special” claimed the top slot in Nielsen’s ranking of the top primetime telecasts on broadcast TV for January 29, 2009. The show drew just over 24.6 million average viewers Thursday evening.
CBS’s “CSI” and “Eleventh Hour” rounded out the top three with 20.2 and 12.7 million average viewers respectively.

Rank
Program
Network
Viewers (P2+)

1
AMERICAN IDOL THU SP-1/29(S)-01/29/2009
FOX
24,613,000

2
CSI
CBS
20,153,000

3
ELEVENTH HOUR
CBS
12,744,000

4
HELL’S KITCHEN
FOX
10,858,000

5
CRIMINAL MINDS THU SP(S)-01/29/2009
CBS
8,840,000

6
PRIVATE PRACTICE
ABC
7,735,000

7
FUEGO EN LA SANGRE THU
UNI
5,929,000

8
OFFICE
NBC
5,818,000

9
GREY’S ANATOMY-THU 9PM
ABC
5,589,000

10
30 ROCK
NBC
5,049,000

Source: The Nielsen Company (January 29, 2009).

Overall, FOX won the night with an average audience of almost 17.9 million viewers,
while CBS took second …

Advertising in Spanish-Language media is growing, according to a new analysis of multi-cultural ad spending conducted by The Nielsen Company.
Total spending in Spanish-Language media climbed 2.7% to $4.3 billion through the first three quarters of 2008, compared to the same period in 2007. Procter & Gamble spent the most on Spanish-Language advertising through September 2008 with $133 million in expenditures. Of the top-10 advertisers in this category, DirecTV stood out with the most growth, spending almost five times as much as it spent through the first three quarters of 2007.

Sales of food and beverages have been more resilient than non-consumable goods during the economic downturn.  But according to Nielsen, consumers are changing the way they buy food as they seek to stretch their dollars farther.
Grocers, drug stores and mass merchandisers are seeing strong growth in store-brand items.  Unit sales of those items grew an average of 4 percent in the last six months of 2008, led by dairy, packaged meats, frozen foods, deli, dry grocery and beverages.  Meanwhile, branded items declined an average of 3.3 percent during the same …

In the run-up to Super Bowl XLIII, Nielsen has compiled a list of the 10 most-watched Super Bowls.
UPDATE: The chart below has been updated to reflect Super Bowl XLIII’s ratings

RANK
SUPER BOWL
WINNER
LOSER
AVG # OF VIEWERS
P2+

1
2009
Pittsburgh
Arizona
98,732,000

2
2008
New York
New England
97,448,000

3
1996
Dallas
Pittsburgh
94,080,000

4
2007
Indianapolis
Chicago
93,184,000

5
1986
Chicago
New England
92,570,000

6
1993
Dallas
Buffalo
90,990,000

7
2006
Pittsburgh
Seattle
90,745,000

8
1998
Denver
Green Bay
90,000,000

9
1994
Dallas
Buffalo
90,000,000

10
2004
New England
Carolina
89,795,000

Source: 2009 The Nielsen Company

Read Nielsen’s complete Super Bowl report.

FOX’s “American Idol-Wednesday” and “Lie To Me” were the number one and two-ranked primetime telecasts on broadcast TV for Wednesday, January 28, 2009 with 27.4 and 12.2 million average viewers.
ABC’s “Lost” rounded out the top three with 11.2 million average viewers respectively.

Rank
Program
Network
Viewers (P2+)

1
AMERICAN IDOL-WEDNESDAY
FOX
27,364,000

2
LIE TO ME
FOX
12,205,000

3
LOST
ABC
11,226,000

4
CRIMINAL MINDS
CBS
10,229,000

5
CSI: NY
CBS
9,355,000

6
LAW AND ORDER
NBC
8,964,000

7
LAW AND ORDER:SVU 9P
NBC
6,380,000

8
KNIGHT RIDER
NBC
6,229,000

9
LIFE ON MARS
ABC
6,220,000

10
CBS EVE NWS PRIME SPECIAL(S)-01/28/2009
CBS
6,027,000

Source: The Nielsen Company (January 28, 2009).

Overall, FOX won the night with an average audience of almost 19.8 million viewers,
while CBS took second place with almost 8.3 million average viewers. ABC …

Following Nielsen Online’s BuzzMetrics recognition as an “industry leader” in the “The Forrester Wave: Listening Platforms, Q1 2009,” Pete Blackshaw, executive vice-president of Nielsen Online Digital Strategic Services, discussed the factors that drive success when it comes to listening.

Forrester’s report is available for download via Nielsen Online.
Read the full press release.