Warmer weather seems to have thawed the wallets of British consumers, as sales at grocery chains increased 6.6 percent in the four weeks ending July 11th, the best underlying growth in more than 24 months, according to new research from The Nielsen Company.  The strong results were driven by sales in fresh foods, soft drinks and general merchandise, the latter showing growth in the high single digits.  Unit growth also rose by 2 percent across the sector. 
“Shoppers continue to respond to offers, with another all-time high for promotional spend at …

CBS’s The Mentalist” and “CSI” were the number one and number three-ranked primetime telecasts on broadcast TV Thursday, July 23, 2009 with approximately 9.6 and 7.8 million average viewers.
FOX’s “So You Think You Can Dance-Thursday” was ranked second with 8.4 approximately millon average viewers.

Draws 4.1 Million Fewer Viewers Than Third Press Conference
In a continued push for congressional support of health care reform President Obama held his fourth prime time press conference on Wednesday July 22, 2009. The conference was carried live from 8:00PM to approximately 9:00PM on 11 networks. The sum of average audience for those networks was 24,682,519 viewers and had a combined household rating of 16.3. The networks carrying the press conference were ABC, CBS, NBC, Univision*, Telemundo*, BBC-A, BET, CNBC, CNN, FOX News Channel, and MSNBC.

Viewing to last night’s press …

Ken Cassar, Vice President, Industry Insights, Online Division
I was very interested to hear the news yesterday that Amazon had acquired Zappos for $847 million in cash and stock. Since Zappos founder Tony Hsieh asked and answered some of his own questions about the deal in a letter to employees so I thought it’d be useful to engage in a Q&A with myself about the deal.
1. Why did Amazon buy Zappos?
A: Two numbers answer that succinctly: About 5 percent of Amazon’s sales are apparel/footwear sales, compared …

Todd Hale, Senior Vice President – Consumer & Shopper Insights
A fellow Nielsen associate recently sent me an article she had received from a client about how private label was receiving high acceptance among even affluent American households.  While I am a huge fan of the attitudinal insights from consumer survey data, I am also a huge fan of the behavioral insights from consumer panel data.  The best of both worlds is when we get to integrate both data types in our analytical work in the consumer packaged goods industry.  But …

NBC’s “America Got Talent-Wednesday 9PM” claimed the top slot in Nielsen’s ranking of the top primetime telecasts on broadcast TV for July 22, 2009. The show drew just over 11.3 million average viewers Wednesday night.
FOX’s “So You Think You Can Dance-Wednesday” and CBS’s “CSI: NY” rounded out the top three with 7.4 and 7.3 millon average viewers respectively.

Sara Erichson, President, Media Client Services North America, The Nielsen Company
The June 12 transition to digital broadcasting was an important milestone for all of us who work in the television industry. For Nielsen, the transition went very smoothly thanks to a year of planning and the close cooperation of our broadcast clients.
Because our metered panels are representative of U.S. television households nationwide and in individual local markets, Nielsen was able to track the country’s progress in preparing for the digital switchover. In January 2008, 10.5% of households were …

There has been increasing mainstream interest in and gravitation towards all things vampire, most recently spurred by the Twilight books/movies and the HBO series, True Blood. And even if these aren’t familiar topics to you yet, marketers are keen to the vampire mystique.
Vampire-related sites are drawing audiences on the Web. In June 2009, the official Twilight movie site was the top online vampire-related destination, garnering 553,000 unique visitors who spent an average of two minutes and 45 seconds on the site during the month (the New Moon trailer is a …

The U.K. is the European country most affected by the Swine Flu virus. Media coverage in the U.K. has been extensive and subsequent consumer reaction is benefiting sales of related products. Notably, sales of digital thermometers have grown by 57% year on year as people are encouraged to stay at home and “self diagnose” to avoid the spread of the virus. As the Guardian recently reported, many shops have sold out of items such as thermometers. Basic hygiene is being promoted by the government and businesses as one …

The topic of harmonizing data across global markets is not one that consumers think about.  But to consumer product manufacturers, marketers and economists, it is an issue fraught with challenges, as variations in barcodes, brand names, packaging and sizes make it extremely difficult to obtain reliable comparisons from country to country.  Take the simple product chocolate sprinkles:

 
In the U.S. and Belgium, they are used as toppings for cakes or ice cream.  In the Netherlands, however, they are used as a sandwich spread.  Likewise, compote is a dessert in southern Europe …