Last night’s primetime press conference to mark Barack Obama’s 100th day in office was viewed by 28.8 million people in the U.S., according to The Nielsen Company. The event pulled an 18.8 household rating on 10 TV networks.
Viewership for the presser was 29% less than the President’s last press conference on March 24, which was seen on 11 networks. President Obama’s first primetime press conference was watched by 49.5 million U.S. viewers on eight networks.
PRESIDENT OBAMA’S PRIMETIME PRESS CONFERENCE RATINGS

DATE
# OF NETWORKS
HH RATING
HH SHARE
# OF VIEWERS P2+ (in millions)

4/29/2009
10
18.8
27
28.8

3/24/2009
11
25.9
45
40.4

2/9/2009
8
30.8
47
49.5

source: The Nielsen Company, 2009

Networks airing …

David Martin, Vice President, Primary Research, Nielsen Online

Our recent post about how the majority of people who use Twitter wind up abandoning the service received a lot of great coverage and feedback. We also received a healthy amount of criticism from the Twitter community who were concerned that our study sold Twitter short because it failed to take into account applications and other websites that feed into the Twitter community.
So, as an update, we went beyond just Twitter.com, adding in more than 30 websites and applications that feed into the …

Americans are watching more TV than ever, and the increasing penetration of DVRs has likely contributed to increased viewership.  But “Must See TV” doesn’t mean that people are gathering around their TV anymore during primetime on a Thursday night.  Appointment viewing is now when the viewer wants to watch it thanks to DVRs.  As of March 2009, 30.6 percent of households in Nielsen’s National People Meter Panel have a DVR, up significantly from just 12.3 percent in January 2007.
A key factor to this expansion is the integration of DVRs into …

Todd Hale, Senior Vice President, Consumer & Shopper Insights
Last week, my colleague Tom Pirovano wrote about how the economic downturn has slowed the growth of organic products to almost a standstill.   Looking at the broader health and wellness category, we are seeing similar patterns.  Grouping health and wellness claims Nielsen tracks through its LabelTrends service into three tiers based on annual growth rates, retailers and manufacturers will notice some interesting developments.
Tier 1 (15% to 26% annual sales growth): Just one claim – omega – showed any dollar growth in the last four weeks, racking up …

FOX’s “American Idol-Wednesday” was the number one-ranked primetime telecast on broadcast
TV for Wednesday, April 29, 2009 with approximately 22.4 million average viewers.
CBS’s “Criminal Minds” and “CSI: NY” rounded out the top three ranked programs with approximately 13.6 and 12.5 million average viewers.

Karen Watson,  Managing Director, Government & Public Sector Sales, The Nielsen Company
One hundred days is scarcely enough time to draw any firm conclusions about a new president’s capabilities. Even so, Barack Obama has garnered considerable respect for his media skills. Pundits have dubbed him the “new media president;” while some of the most cynical among them believe his underlying strategy is to end run traditional Washington gatekeepers by communicating more directly with constituents sympathetic to his agenda. But his fans and critics alike may be missing the bigger picture.
“As audiences …

Maya Swedowsky
President Barack Obama’s inauguration marked the beginning of a new era, which included the launch of a dramatically overhauled White House Web site. President Obama wasted no time ensuring that the official site, WhiteHouse.gov, represented a continuation of his campaign’s masterful use of the Internet and social media.
During President Obama’s first month in office, it seemed like the overhaul had paid off with unique visitors to WhiteHouse.gov reaching an all-time high. However, as the novelty of having an Internet-savvy administration seemed to wear off, so did the visitation rate, …

President Obama marks his 100th day in office tonight with his third primetime press conference since January. The President’s request for air time adds a strain not only to each network’s news resources, but also to their overall bottom line.
It’s no secret that the 8pm hour generates much-needed ad dollars for broadcast TV networks. In February, ABC, CBS, FOX, and NBC combined to average $21.5 million in revenue on Wednesdays from 8pm to 9pm ET. With that kind of money in play, networks are forced to balance their public service duties with financial obligations.
So …

Valerie Bogus, Nielsen Online
President Barack Obama has reached his 100th day in office amid generally positive sentiment according to a Nielsen Online analysis of online “buzz” surrounding the 44th President. Using our Brand Association Map to plot keywords and phrases, we demonstrate visually how the conversations have shifted between his first 100 days in office, compared to the 100 days before his swearing in.
The economy and the economic stimulus package are the isues most closely associated with President Obama’s tenure, as words like “crisis,” “trillion,” “banks,” and “tax” are nested …

FOX’s “American Idol-Tuesday” claimed the top slot in Nielsen’s ranking of the top primetime telecasts on broadcast TV for April 28, 2009. The show drew just over 23.3 million average viewers Tuesday evening.
CBS’s “The Mentalist” and “NCIS” ranked second and third with 17.1 and 16.7 million average viewers.