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: …

While the World is struggling with the economic hard times of late, the future poses a new set of challenges that do not stem from arcane financial investments, but from simple demographics. An aging population, a declining birth rate, and growing ethnic diversity will change the face and the spending behavior of consumers in the U.S. Gaining share among population groups that most marketers do not reach today—older and ethnic consumers—will require shifts in focus, tactics, and products.

With a focus on information and irreverence, Mediaweek has launched MediaFreakBlog.com, joining sister sites Adfreak and Brandfreak. Jim Cooper, Executive Editor, AdweekMedia and editor of Mediafreak explains the strategy behind Nielsen’s most recent blog offering.
What’s the goal of Mediafreak?
Jim Cooper: Mediaweek’s mantra has always been cover the content and follow the dollars, and Mediafreak will operate under the same mission-just in blog form. Our staff writers and freelance contributors will bring their deep institutional knowledge to bear to deliver an insightful, informative and entertaining counterpart to Mediaweek and Mediaweek.com.
Who is …