At a time when financial institutions are pulling back on their advertising, a new study from Nielsen IAG shows that consumer confidence in the long-term health of these companies is dramatically influenced by advertising and marketing efforts.
When asked about their own banks, insurance companies and investment firms, 55% of respondents who said they had seen more advertising for their financial institution reported having “complete confidence” in the financial health and soundness of their financial company and only 18% said they had “little or no confidence” in their company. However, among those …

Despite hosting the Beijing Olympics, ad spending in China grew 17 percent in 2008, up from the 15 percent growth in 2007, but below the 23 percent growth posted in 2006, according to Nielsen. The total ad spend was 520.3 billion Yuan, or US$74.3 billion.
“The Olympics didn’t deliver the advertising boon everyone expected, as the bulk of China’s advertisers took an ad break during August, resulting in a monthly ad spend figure close to 2007 levels, and not much higher than in May, when the Sichuan earthquake hit and advertising …

FOX’s “American Idol-Wednesday” claimed the top slot in Nielsen’s ranking of the top primetime telecasts on broadcast TV for March 18, 2009. The show drew just over 23.7 million average viewers Wednesday evening.
CBS’s “Criminal Minds” and “CSI: NY” rounded out the top three with 13.7 and 12.8 million average viewers respectively.

Rank
Program
Network
Viewers (P2+)

1
AMERICAN IDOL-WEDNESDAY
FOX
23,705,000

2
CRIMINAL MINDS
CBS
13,741,000

3
CSI: NY
CBS
12,786,000

4
LIE TO ME
FOX
10,264,000

5
LOST
ABC
9,400,000

6
GARY UNMARRIED
CBS
7,374,000

7
OLD CHRISTINE
CBS
7,214,000

8
LAW AND ORDER
NBC
7,136,000

9
MANANA PARA SIEMPRE WED
UNI
5,902,000

10
SCRUBS-WED 8PM
ABC
5,621,000

Source: The Nielsen Company (March 18, 2009).

Overall, FOX won the night with an average audience of almost 17.1 million viewers,
while CBS took second place with almost …

James Russo, Vice President, Marketing, Nielsen
With unemployment reaching 25-year highs, it is no surprise that Americans are nervous about their futures.  Over the last twelve months, confidence has nosedived as consumers worry about keeping their jobs, paying their mortgages and other bills, and their retirements.
We are on the verge of a potential fundamental shift in how consumers shop and buy that could have ramifications long past economic recovery.  They are shopping less and changing the types of products they purchase, such as shifting …

The NCAA Tournament, March Madness, is one of the most celebrated sporting events in the U.S, providing a tremendous opportunity for advertisers to reach a wide and relatively affluent audience.
Nielsen’s Guide To March Madness, tracks a range of consumer and media information surrounding the event including advertising trends and demographic reach of the multi-week event. Ad buys for CBS’s coverage of the NCAA Tournament have risen steadily over the last five years – from $434 million in 2004 to $580 million in 2008 – a surge of almost 34 percent.  …

Michelle McGiboney, Nielsen Online
Twitter.com continues to grow in popularity and importance in both the consumer and corporate worlds. No longer just a platform for friends to stay connected in real time, it has evolved into an important component of brand marketing. Unique visitors to Twitter increased 1,382 percent year-over-year, from 475,000 unique visitors in February 2008 to 7 million in February 2009, making it the fastest growing site in the Member Communities category for the month.  Zimbio and Facebook followed, growing 240 percent and 228 percent, respectively.
Fastest Growing Member Community …

RANK
NAME
NETWORK
DAY
VIEWERS (P2+)

1
AMERICAN IDOL-TUESDAY
FOX
TUESDAY
25,767,000

2
AMERICAN IDOL-WEDNESDAY
FOX
WEDNESDAY
25,547,000

3
DANCING WITH THE STARS
ABC
MONDAY
22,829,000

4
CSI
CBS
THURSDAY
17,132,000

5
DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES
ABC
SUNDAY
14,602,000

6
CRIMINAL MINDS
CBS
WEDNESDAY
14,342,000

7
MENTALIST, THE
CBS
TUESDAY
14,322,000

8
CSI: MIAMI
CBS
MONDAY
14,215,000

9
GREY’S ANATOMY-THU 9PM
ABC
THURSDAY
13,642,000

10
CSI: NY
CBS
WEDNESDAY
13,633,000

Source: The Nielsen Company (March 9, 2009 – March 15, 2009)

FOX’s “American Idol-Tuesday” was the number one-ranked primetime telecast on broadcast TV for Tuesday, March 17, 2009 with approximately 21.9 million average viewers.
CBS’s “NCIS” and “The Mentalist” were the number two and three-ranked programs with approximately 15.8 and 12.7 million average viewers respectively.

Rank
Program
Network
Viewers (P2+)

1
AMERICAN IDOL-TUESDAY
FOX
21,886,000

2
NCIS
CBS
15,835,000

3
MENTALIST, THE
CBS
15,491,000

4
DANCING W/STARS RESULTS
ABC
12,737,000

5
WITHOUT A TRACE
CBS
11,872,000

6
LAW AND ORDER:SVU
NBC
10,743,000

7
BIGGEST LOSER 7
NBC
7,993,000

8
DANCING W/STARS RECAP #6(S)-03/17/2009
ABC
7,990,000

9
PRIMETIME:WHAT WOULD U DO
ABC
7,262,000

10
MANANA PARA SIEMPRE TUE
UNI
5,414,000

Source: The Nielsen Company (March 17, 2009).

Overall, FOX won the night with an average audience of almost 21.9 million viewers, while CBS took second place with almost 14.4 …

Manish Bhatia, President, Advanced Digital Services, Nielsen
Any physicist will tell you energy can neither be created nor destroyed — just changed from one form to another. Much the same can be said these days about television viewing.
Life used to be so simple – one screen, three national broadcast networks and a handful of local TV stations in every market. What’s more, all stations “signed off” sometime after midnight, leaving insomniacs with nothing to watch until morning but the once iconic test pattern. Then along came cable, considerably expanding …

About 6.5 million Australians belong to an online social network, and more than two-thirds of Internet users looked at other people’s content on social networking sites during 2008 according to Nielsen Online’s latest consumer generated media report.  The most popular sites are Facebook – which showed 32 percent growth in 2008, MySpace, which recorded a 2 percent gain and Flickr, which grew by 14 percent.  Among those who blog, MySpace was the favored vehicle, with almost one-third of users preferring it over any other site.  Twitter penetration remains low – …