SPORTS WRAP: Cowboys Star in Primetime Ratings, NFL Network Builds Its Audience

NFL games airing in primetime are breaking records this season, and they share one common denominator: the Dallas Cowboys.

First it was the thrilling September 15th matchup with the Philadelphia Eagles on ESPN’s Monday Night Football.  The Cowboys prevailed in a 41-37 shootout watched by 18.6 million viewers, the most ever for a cable program.

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Beyond The Digital Divide: Nielsen Surveys World “Wired” Web

As reported on by the Hollywood Reporter, a new online survey conducted by Nielsen reveals emerging trends on media consumption and device usage across 52 counties.

While Western countries led the way in usage of media hardware such as DVD players and gaming consoles, up-and-coming markets, particularly in Asia, emerged as trendsetters in next-generation devices such as video-enabled handsets. In particular, the Philippines, topped the list of countries with the highest average of usage across a range of devices. Five of the top 10 countries on the list were Asian Pacific.

Klaas Hommez, VP of Nielsen Entertainment, identified several factors responsible for media usage in many Asian countries, such as the broad uptake of mobile because of widespread use of public transportation and government policies maximizing broadband access in China and Singapore. Many Asian consumers favor wireless technology over traditional landlines, and the “leapfrogging” effect translates as well to media use. As Hommez notes: “Consumers are circumventing the need for a relatively expensive gaming console to play subscription-based video games online.”

Read more in The Hollywood Reporter.

View the press release.

Click here to order the full report.

Dreaming Of A “Brown Christmas”: Whiskey Returns

In recent years, white spirits have dominated Bev-Al sales in the U.S., but now brown spirits — led by whiskey — appear to be making a comeback.

According to Nielsen, U.S. sales growth for whiskey and brown spirits is outperforming the growth rate of the overall spirits category in 2008.

Whiskey growth rates have been rising steadily this year, with whiskey dollar sales increasing nearly $85 million or 4.4% in 2008 — up from 2.3% a year ago.  At the same time, whiskey volume, while declining a year ago, is now showing growth.

In comparison, dollar sales growth for all spirits has largely remained unchanged. 

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Women’s Happiness More Recession Proof Than Men’s

As the world grapples with a global recession and financial markets remain volatile, many people are reminding themselves that money can’t buy happiness. Men however, beg to differ.

Results of a global happiness survey from The Nielsen Company reveal that men are happier with money, while women are happier with friendships and relationships with their children, co-workers and bosses.

“Because they are happier with non-economic factors, women’s happiness is more recession-proof, which might explain why women around the world are happier in general than men are,” said Bruce Paul, VP Consumer Research, US, The Nielsen Company.

The 51-country Nielsen Happiness Study, which polled 28,153 respondents online in May 2008, found that globally, women are happier than men in 48 of the 51 countries surveyed, and only in Brazil, South Africa and Vietnam were men found to be happier than women. Japanese women reported the greatest difference and are 15 percent happier than Japanese men. Women are also more optimistic about the future, scoring higher than men on predictions of their happiness in the next six months.

Globally, women were also happier with their sex lives although men were generally happier with their spouses. Japanese and New Zealand women reported the greatest difference in satisfaction with their sex lives.

View the full press release.

Read Retuers’ coverage of Nielsen’s findings.

Global Shoppers Consider Ethics And Environment

Compared to the rest of the globe, Latin America’s consumers place the highest importance on how environment standards and labor conditions impact products they purchase. In North America, consumers come in just below the global average when considering the importance of those factors according to a Nielsen report on Corporate Ethics And Fair Trading, done in partnership with Oxford University’s Environmental Change Institute. In addition to Latin and North America, the report details consumer perceptions in the Asia/Pacific region, Europe, and emerging markets. “A global social conscience is one of the biggest trends to have emerged in the last decade. Global consumers are collectively speaking out and demanding that corporations make a positive contribution to society,” notes Amilcar Perez, Vice President, Marketing, Latin America, The Nielsen Company.

Read Corporate Ethics And Fair Trading: A Nielsen Global Consumer Report.

Asian Influence Growing In The U.S.

Often overlooked by marketers in comparison to the tremendous growth of the Hispanic population, Asians comprise a rapidly growing segment of the U.S. population that is not only culturally diverse, but also well-educated, affluent, and media savvy. Asians are expected to continue to grow rapidly as a share of U.S. population. Although they will likely continue to be ranked the third race or ethnic group by size (behind Hispanics and African Americans), they will make up a significant share of population over the next few decades. The fusion of Asian culture into the American mainstream will continue to gain importance and will increasingly gain focus from makers and sellers of consumer products, particularly in West Coast markets and those of the Northeast.

Read more about the media preferences, shopping behavior and acculturation patterns of the Asian consumer in the latest issue of Nielsen’s Consumer Insight.

NIELSEN RETAIL UPDATE: Late Sept. Financial Turmoil Puts Pinch On U.S. Consumers

According to Nielsen, trips to U.S. retail outlets decreased by 1.4% in the third quarter of 2008, compared with Q3 2007. 

Declines were especially steep during the last four weeks of the quarter, which saw the collapse of Lehman Brothers, the near-collapse of Merrill Lynch, and the government bailout of AIG.

Traditional mass retailers (excluding supercenters), department stores, and office supply stores saw the most dramatic declines in the number of shopping trips last quarter vs. a year ago.  Trips to mass retailers dropped by 9.1%, trips to department stores were down by 8.9%, and trips to office supply stores fell by 7.9%, Nielsen reported.

Retail channels offering low prices, strong value, and mostly “need to have” products — versus “nice to have” items — fared the best during Q3 2008.  Trips to online retailers (+7.5%), supercenters (+3.6%), and dollar stores (+3%), for instance, showed the largest increases, compared with Q3 2007.

More affluent consumers looking for bargains drove the growth in trips to value retail channels, while lower-income households adopted more drastic cost-cutting measures, eliminating shopping trips entirely, according to Nielsen.

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