If you’ve cut the cord on your landline and rely solely on a cellphone for calls, you’re likely to spend more time listening to the radio and sampling more stations, according to a pilot study in Lexington, KY run by The Nielsen Company. In March, Nielsen will roll out similar studies in 51 other major markets.
The Lexington study found that cell-phone-only homes logged nearly 23 hours of radio listening per week compared to just over 19 hours for the total sample.
In addition, the sample group:

Listens to 3.5 radio stations compared …

Since mid-February (the original date for the DTV switch) more than a half-million homes have prepared themselves for the Digital TV transition according to an update from The Nielsen Company.  As of March 1, 3.9 percent of all TV homes remain unready for the upcoming transition to all-digital broadcasting and would be unable to receive any television programming at all if the transition occurred today. Congress has set June 12 as the new date for the nationwide transition to DTV.

The banking industry increased ad buys during televised sports events by 36% in 2008, despite an overall 10% cut on all TV buys, according to an analysis by The Nielsen Company.
Banks spent $122 million – or 18.7% of all its TV ad dollars – on sports event programming in 2008. In 2007, the banking industry spent $90 million on sports broadcasts, or 12.5% of the industry’s total TV ad expenditures
“In today’s market, the banking industry is wise to target its ads to sports audiences,” said Tom Ziangas, SVP for Nielsen Sports. “Not …

Population trends have clear implications for those involved in the media and advertising industries. There are now more than 114 million U.S. TV households, with immigration continuing to play a major role in population growth. U.S. Census estimates predict that by the year 2050 more than half of the U.S.
population will be non-white.
Nielsen’s “Ethnic Trends In Media,” is a comprehensive report profiling African-American, Asian, Hispanic and White households in the U.S.  This report examines household characteristics, television usage, timeshifted viewing and popular programming genres for each group.
Key findings include:

Household …

Australians are abandoning desktop PCs and flocking to laptops and other wireless devices, according to Nielsen Online’s Internet and Technology Report released today.  In the last year, household ownership of desktop computers declined 10 percent, while ownership of laptops jumped from 49 percent to 63.  Wireless LAN ownership increased more than 20 points in the last year and now stands at 53 percent.  Additionally, broadband subscriptions reached 97 percent, up from 84 percent in 2007.
“As Australians become increasingly less wired in the ways they access the Internet, a greater focus …

On Tuesday, February 24, 2009 President Barack Obama delivered his first address to a Joint Session of Congress, the traditional first-term equivalent of the State of the Union.  The address was carried live on 10 national television networks – ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, Telemundo, Univision, CNBC, CNN, FOX News Channel and MSNBC.  The figures below are the sum of the preliminary average audience estimates for the sources noted and for the approximate common time.  Exact times varied by network.
President Obama’s Address to Joint Session of Congress –
Tuesday, February 24, 2009 …

When Tiger Woods tees off later today at the Accenture Match Play Championship, he won’t be the only one relieved by his return to the links. In fact, PGA Tour officials and TV executives might have more of a reason to celebrate than Tiger himself.
The Nielsen Company compared the network TV ratings for the 3rd and 4th rounds of golf tournaments played by Woods after the U.S. Open in 2007 with those same tournaments he missed in 2008 due to a season-ending knee injury. And the results are just what …

The 2009 Awards aired 26 minutes of commercials (excluding promotional announcements and PSAs), three minutes more than the 2008 event. Hyundai replaced General Motors as the exclusive auto advertiser, and aired 4½ minutes of commercials, making it the top advertiser. Coca-Cola was next with 4 minutes, followed by JC Penney, with 3½.
New advertisers for the 2009 Awards and how many minutes they ran are listed in the chart below. Hyundai, the top advertiser, ran several general ads, as well as three 30-second spots for its Genesis brand. Sprint Nextel promoted …

According to a new Nielsen study, household television and peripheral trends are holding steady, even though the uncertain economic conditions are affecting just about every household and consumer behavior across the country.  To determine whether Americans’ continued affection for TV and related entertainment might be impacted by the economy, Nielsen examined several household characteristics among its National People Meter sample for the five quarters running from Q4 2007 to Q4 2008.
During this period, households with broadcast only (i.e., no cable or satellite service) TVs declined from 11.5 percent to 10.9 …

The Cleveland Cavaliers were the top-rated local NBA market in the first half of the season, according to an analysis released today by The Nielsen Company.
Cleveland led all NBA markets in the U.S. with an 8.1 local household rating. It’s a significant 119% jump for LeBron James and the Cavs, which ranked 9th through the first half of last season with a 3.7 rating.
The San Antonio Spurs, who boasted the NBA’s top-rated local market last season through as recently as the first month of this season, still showed an 18% year-to-year increase in its …