The latest from Nielsen’s Video Game Tracking service, shows Activision’s highly-anticipated first-person shooter Modern Warfare 2 benefits substantially from association with its multi-platinum parent franchise Call of Duty. While the title of the game was simply Modern Warfare 2 through early July, Activision recently decided to ensure gamers recognized the November-bound title as a true sequel to 2007’s hit Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare by including the Call of Duty prefix in the game title.
By comparing consumer response from Video Game Tracking before and after the name change, …

More than three-quarters of Indian consumers base their choice of mobile service on network or price, according to a new study from The Nielsen Company India.  While CDMA technology has an edge over GSM in both voice and data network performance in India, more than a third (33%) of respondents with CDMA service are likely to consider a GSM brand should they choose to switch carriers. Meanwhile, 62 percent of CDMA customers said that they would consider staying with their existing service provider.
Nielsen also studied CDMA and GSM network performance in 39 …

CBS’s “Two And A Half Men”, “The Big Bang Theory” and “CSI: Miami” were the top three-ranked primetime telecasts on broadcast TV with an average audience of approximately 9.3, 8.8 and 8.5 million viewers Monday, July 20, 2009.

Sue MacDonald, Research Manager, Online Division
After he retired as the anchorman for CBS Evening News, Walter Cronkite often said in later-life interviews that he had one regret as a newsman: he was never invited by NASA to fly into space or join the Apollo missions as the first reporter on the moon.
As the U.S. celebrates the 40th anniversary of the first moon landing today, Cronkite is at least sharing the spotlight. The day after his passing at the age of 92, Nielsen’s BlogPulse showed Cronkite to be most-cited person by …

In the early days of the Silver Screen, immigrant characters were not necessarily embraced.  Indeed, it wasn’t until Margarita Cansino changed her name to Rita Hayworth did she hit the big time.  Today, such a move would not be necessary, as attracting Hispanics is one path for a movie to become a blockbuster.  While Latinos make up about 15 percent of the U.S. population, they represent 28 percent of today’s heavy moviegoers.  Almost half of Latinos age 12 to 34 watch 11 or more movies a year (compared to 7 …

New findings from Nielsen’s Television Audience Report show that in 2009 the average American home had 2.86 TV sets, which is roughly 18% higher than in 2000 (2.43 sets per home), and 43% higher than in 1990 (2.0 sets). In addition, there continue to be more TVs per home than people – in 2009 the average U.S. home had only 2.5 people vs 2.86 television sets.

This year about 54% of homes in the U.S. had more than 3 or more television sets, 28% had 2 television sets …

RANK
NAME
BET
DAY
VIEWERS (P2+)

1
MANANA PARA SIEMPRE TUE-07/14/2009
UNI
TUESDAY
4,608,000

2
MANANA PARA SIEMPRE MON-07/13/2009
UNI
MONDAY
4,425,000

3
MANANA PARA SIEMPRE WED-07/15/2009
UNI
WEDNESDAY
4,219,000

4
PREMIOS JUVENTUD 09 7/16-07/16/2009
UNI
THURSDAY
4,076,000

5
MANANA PARA SIEMPRE FRI-07/17/2009
UNI
FRIDAY
3,876,000

6
EN NOMBRE DEL AMOR MON-07/13/2009
UNI
MONDAY
3,515,000

7
EN NOMBRE DEL AMOR TUE-07/14/2009
UNI
TUESDAY
3,420,000

8
EN NOMBRE DEL AMOR WED-07/15/2009
UNI
WEDNESDAY
3,314,000

9
CRISTINA MON-07/13/2009
UNI
MONDAY
3,278,000

10
EN NOMBRE DEL AMOR FRI-07/17/2009
UNI
FRIDAY
2,999,000

Source: The Nielsen Company (July 13, 2009 – July 19, 2009)

RANK
NAME
BET
DAY
VIEWERS (P2+)

1
FOX MLB ALL-STAR GAME(S)
FOX
TUESDAY
14,593,000

2
AMERICA’S GOT TALENT-TUE
NBC
TUESDAY
13,513,000

3
AMERICA GOT TALENT-WED 9P
NBC
WEDNESDA
11,639,000

4
FOX MLB ALL-STAR PRE(S)
FOX
TUESDAY
11,224,000

5
NCIS
CBS
TUESDAY
10,451,000

6
TWO AND A HALF MEN
CBS
MONDAY
9,120,000

7
MENTALIST, THE
CBS
THURSDAY
8,372,000

8
BIG BANG THEORY, THE
CBS
MONDAY
8,226,000

9
BACHELORETTE, THE
ABC
MONDAY
8,013,000

10
CSI: MIAMI
CBS
MONDAY
8,012,000

Source: The Nielsen Company (July 13, 2009 – July 19, 2009)

RANK
NAME
BET
DAY
VIEWERS (P2+)

1
WIZARDS ON DECK W/ HANNAH(S)-07/17/2009
DSNY
FRIDAY
9,292,000

2
HOME RUN DERBY L
ESPN
MONDAY
8,250,000

3
BURN NOTICE
USA
THURSDAY
6,664,000

4
CLOSER, THE
TNT
MONDAY
6,590,000

5
ROYAL PAINS
USA
THURSDAY
6,230,000

6
HANNAH MONTANA
DSNY
FRIDAY
6,086,000

7
HOME RUN DERBY PRELUDE L
ESPN
MONDAY
6,065,000

8
WWE ENTERTAINMENT (WWE RAW)
USA
MONDAY
5,523,000

9
SPONGEBOB
NAN
SUNDAY
5,373,000

10
SPONGEBOB
NICK
SUNDAY
5,169,000

Source: The Nielsen Company (July 13, 2009 – July 19, 2009)

RANK
NAME
BET
DAY
VIEWERS (P2+)

1
PRIMETIME: FAMILY SECRETS
ABC
TUESDAY
1,658,000

2
AMERICA’S GOT TALENT-TUE
NBC
TUESDAY
1,224,000

3
NCIS
CBS
TUESDAY
1,112,000

3
AMERICA GOT TALENT-WED 9P
NBC
WEDNESDAY
1,112,000

5
FOX MLB ALL-STAR GAME
FOX
TUESDAY
1,041,000

6
LAW AND ORDER:SVU
NBC
TUESDAY
964,000

7
CSI: MIAMI
CBS
MONDAY
919,000

8
CSI: NY
CBS
WEDNESDAY
894,000

9
SO YOU THINK CN DANCE-THU
FOX
THURSDAY
888,000

9
MENTALIST, THE
CBS
THURSDAY
888,000

Source: The Nielsen Company (July 13, 2009 – July 19, 2009)