CBS’s “Numb3rs” and “Ghost Whisperer-Special” were the number one and number three-ranked primetime telecasts on broadcast TV Friday, July 3, 2009 with 5.2 and 4.5 million average viewers.
NBC’s “Dateline Friday” was the second ranked telecast on broadcast TV Wednesday evening with approximately 5.1 million average viewers.

Based on an examination of over 100 client engagements related to cost innovation conducted over the past five years, Nielsen illuminates the right way to navigate this challenge and highlights important principles to adhere to in embracing the risks and rewards of downsizing, upsizing, changing the package material, and making product reformulations.

CBS’s “The Mentalist” and “CSI” were the number one and two-ranked primetime telecasts on
broadcast TV for Thursday, July 2, 2009 with 9.8 and 8.2 million average viewers.
FOX’s “So You Think You Can Dance-Thursday” rounded out the top three with 7.2 million
average viewers.

While the American auto industry is no doubt facing an uncertain future, the Big Three can look to NASCAR for some positive news. Not only are the top five drivers in the Sprint Cup Standings all driving American, but also NASCAR fans, long known for their brand loyalty, are staying patriotic when it comes to their vehicles.

According to data from Nielsen’s People Meter sample fused with the respondents of MRI’s Survey of the American Consumer, NASCAR race viewers in Q1′09 were more likely than the average consumer to drive American:

Drivers of Chevrolet, …

Hispanics comprise a growing 15% of today’s American moviegoers and amounted to over 128 million of U.S. box office admissions in 2008. Latinos not only represent an opportunity to positively impact overall box office success, but they are an influential segment with the power to build brand awareness.

Two of the “Big Three” U.S. automakers have gone bankrupt.  Car sales continue to decline.  This would appear to be the most challenging period for the automotive industry in its history.  But despite the gloom, there are some bright spots for auto makers, according to new research from The Nielsen Company.
The re-designed Forester boosted sales for Subaru, while Hyundai and Kia launched new models appealing to younger drivers.  Existing models, such as the Sorento and Sedona posted strong sales growth (69% and 48%, respectively).  And Lincoln was the only U.S. …

For the week of June 22-28, 2009, TV host Glenn Beck’s book, Common Sense: The Case Against an Out-of-Control Government, Inspired by Thomas Paine topped the non-fiction charts as books from Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum series, Finger Lickin’ Fifteen and Fearless Fourteen dominated the fiction charts. Both authors also locked up the top three spots in the audio book category.

Think it’s impossible to truly harmonize data from multiple countries, given the variations in barcodes, brand names, packages, products and sizes involved? While meeting the challenges of global data differences is daunting, it can be accomplished with a unique combination of local data access, global understanding and a design and implementation plan that delivers action-oriented applications.

TV viewers seem more immune to pitches for allergy medications this spring when compared to the year before, according to a new study from Nielsen IAG. Overall, recall among allergy sufferers aged 25-54 for all the ads on air from January through May this year was 10 points lower than during the same period a year ago.
That’s not to say every ad in the category was unmemorable. An ad for Claritin featuring Nascar’s Carl Edwards was judged slightly more memorable than last year’s top ad for the category featuring the …

Since the June 12 switch to digital television, more than 800,000 homes have readied themselves to receive digital broadcasts. As 400,000 new homes upgraded in the last week, this now leaves only 1.7 million, or 1.5%, of U.S. homes classified as “completely unready” for digital TV.
% Of Homes Completely Unready For DTV

Date
Total
White
African American
Hispanic
Asian
Under 35
Over 55

June 28, 2009
1.5
1.1
3.5
2.3
2.5
3.5
0.6

June 21, 2009
1.8
1.3
4.0
2.8
2.9
4.0
0.8

June 14, 2009
2.2
1.6
4.6
3.6
3.2
4.4
1.1

June 7, 2009
2.5
1.9
5.1
4.3
3.1
4.6
1.3

May 24, 2009
2.7
2.1
5.4
4.7
3.2
5.0
1.5

May 10, 2009
2.9
2.3
5.7
4.9
3.4
5.4
1.6

April 26, 2009
3.1
2.4
5.9
5.0
4.1
5.7
1.7

April 12, 2009
3.2
2.5
5.9
5.4
4.3
5.9
1.7

March 29, 2009
3.4
2.7
6.2
5.6
4.4
6.3
1.8

March 15, 2009
3.6
2.9
6.6
6.1
4.4
6.5
2.0

March 1, 2009
3.9
3.2
6.7
6.5
4.5
7.2
2.2

February 15, 2009
4.4
3.6
7.5
7.4
5.1
8.1
2.6

February 1, 2009
5.1
4.1
8.7
8.5
6.3
8.6
3.2

January 18, 2009
5.7
4.6
9.9
9.7
6.9
8.8
4.0

December 21, 2008
6.8
5.6
10.8
11.5
8.1
9.9
5.2

Source: …