“The early buzz data makes one thing clear — controversy drives conversation,” said Pete Blackshaw, executive vice president of digital strategy at The Nielsen Company.

According to The Nielsen Company, mobile Internet traffic in December 2009 was similar to total Internet use, with the largest audiences being seen for search, e-mail and social networking.

Nielsen’s regional experts share insights on confidence, media trends, and what next for the increasingly diverse, demanding, and connected global consumer.

More than 48 million viewers across 34 million homes tuned into to President Obama’s State of the Union address which was broadcast on 11 networks.

Facebook and The Nielsen Company today announced that Nielsen BrandLift™, which uses the Facebook platform to measure the effectiveness of online brand advertising, is now available in the UK.

Roughly 83 millions viewers tuned in to at least one minute of the telethon, which was carried live on Friday January 22, 2010 from 8:00PM to approximately 10:00PM on 33 networks.

As sites like Twitter and Facebook continue to grow, global consumers spent more than five and half hours on social networking sites in December 2009.

National broadcast and cable TV networks aired over 43,700 hours of sporting events in the U.S. last year, according to new statistics released in Nielsen’s report on “The Changing Face of Sports Media.” Nielsen also found that advertisers spent an estimated $7.6 billion on sports programming alone in 2009.

Nielsen IAG compiled a list of the most recalled hybrid ads (where sponsor messaging is combined with program or entertainment content) for 2009.

The majority of Super Bowl viewers enjoy the game’s ads more than the action on the field, according to results of a recent survey by The Nielsen Company.