The Warner Bros.’ seasonal comedy “Four Christmases” topped the weekend Box Office for the second week in a row,  taking in an estimated $16.8 million in Friday-Sunday grosses.
Summit Entertainment’s vampire film “Twilight” took in an estimated $13 million to reclaim second place from Disney’s CG-animated feature “Bolt”, which earned an estimated $9.7 million to finish third.
Below are Box Office totals for the weekend of December 5-7, 2008, from Nielsen EDI.

RANK
FILM
STUDIO
WEEKEND
GROSS
(MILLIONS)

1
Four Christmases
WARNER BROS.
$16,755,478
$69.4

2
Twilight
SUMMIT ENTERTAINMENT
$13,046,722
$138.4

3
Bolt
WALT DISNEY STUDIOS
$9,796,149
$79.4

4
Australia
TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX
$7,050,261
$30.9

5
Quantum of Solace
SONY PICTURES
$6,752,390
$151.6

6
Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa
PARAMOUNT
$5,079,120
$165.7

7
Transporter 3
LIONSGATE
$4,668,898
$25.5

8
Punisher: War Zone
LIONSGATE
$4,271,451
$4.3

9
Cadillac Records
SONY PICTURES
$3,445,559
$3.4

10
Role Models
UNIVERSAL
$2,574,460
$61.6

Source: The Hollywood …

Blizzard Entertainment’s “World of Warcraft” dominated Nielsen Games’ ranking of the most popular PC game titles for October, claiming more than 62% of the total PC game minutes played during the month. 

Rank
Top 10 PC Game Titles:
October 2008
Publisher
Share
Avg. Mins
Per Week
TMP%

1
World of Warcraft
Blizzard Entertainment
12.509
546
62.280

2
Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos
Blizzard Entertainment
1.890
328
4.751

3
Half-Life 2
Vivendi Games
1.917
288
4.301

4
Spore
Electric Entertainment
2.234
268
4.220

5
Bookworm
PopCap Games
3.074
133
2.716

6
Cake Mania 3
Sandlot Games
4.260
138
2.709

7
Virtual Villagers: The Secret City
Wild Games
1.567
204
2.456

8
Chessmaster Challenge
PlayFirst
8.856
47
2.123

9
Halo: Combat Evolved
Microsoft Game Studios
2.005
165
2.105

10
Build-a-Lot 2: Town Of The Year
HipSoft LLC
1.661
183
1.668

Source: Nielsen Games
Share is the percentage of the gaming audience measured that played the title
Overall TMP% represents the percent of total minutes played …

Savvy marketers in the U.S. have their eye on Hispanic consumers — with good reason: Hispanic Americans account for 50% of all potential new buyers entering the U.S. marketplace.
But reaching these consumers is no simple task, according to a new study released Monday by Nielsen PreView.
For one thing, America’s Hispanic population is far from homogenous.  Instead, Hispanics in the U.S. can actually be divided into three distinct segments: most acculturated, bi-cultural, and least acculturated.
“Bi-cultural” Hispanics account for 53% of the total Hispanic population in the U.S.  Members of this segment …

Was 2008 the best sports year ever?  At least in terms of viewer interest, there’s plenty of evidence to support that argument.  Consider these TV sports highlights from 2008:
-The most-watched global event ever (2008 Beijing Summer Olympics: 4.7 billion viewers)
-The most-watched Super Bowl ever (Giants-Patriots, Super Bowl XLII: 97.5 million viewers)
-The most-watched cable broadcast of all time (Cowboys-Eagles, Monday Night Football: 18.6 million viewers)
-The most-watched cable golf event of all time (Tiger vs. Rocco, U.S. Open Playoff: 4.8 million viewers)
-The most-watched cable baseball game ever (Red Sox-Rays, ALCS Game 7: …

Nielsen Claritas tracked consumer behavior across a wide range of telecommunication products and services to identify this year’s key trends.
Cord Cutting Craze
Wireless/cellular only homes, which grew by 20% in 2008, now account for 18% of all U.S. households.  One-third of the wireless-only households have never had a landline, while the remaining two-thirds are cord cutters. Not surprisingly, cord-cutter households tend to be younger and are more likely to rent/lease their home.  Expect the wireless-only trend to grow, as homes continue to drop their landlines and young adults start new households …

Are American moviegoers an accurate predictor of overseas box office success? 
Yes and no, according to a new study released Monday by Nielsen PreView. 
According to Nielsen, U.S. movie box office receipts do not necessarily predict how well a movie will perform in Japan — this is particularly true of American dramas.  However, movies of all genres that did well in the U.S. consistently fared well among Australian movie-going audiences.
Curious to see how other countries fared?  View Nielsen PreView’s complete study.

Analysis of local ratings for the start of the NHL season shows 12 U.S. teams with double-digit percentage increases in viewership compared to the same time period a year ago. The Buffalo Sabres remain the highest-rated NHL team with an 8.9 average household rating in their market –and boast a 14% increase in viewership from 2007 as well.  The Pittsburgh Penguins are in the number two slot, with a 5.7 local rating, a 21% increase over last season.
NHL Local Ratings Box Score
• The Washington Capitals‘ ratings are up 140% compared …

In this video preview of a Dec. 4 Nielsen Online webinar: “Super Buzz or Super Blues? Maximizing Media Returns” Pete Blackshaw, EVP Digital Strategic Services, Nielsen Online, discusses how search, social media engagement, and word of mouth contribute to ROI in the Super Bowl advertising playbook.

Webinar details at Nielsen Online.

Nielsen Consumer Insight has issued its 2009 Industry Outlook, covering everything from book sales to mobile phones. Up first is a look at how 3D movies are likely to fare as families are likely to keep a tight reign on their budgets in 2009. Movie theaters may prove to be the exception.  Why? Consumers appear to love 3D films. In fact, gross sales increased over 60% for films exhibited in 3D as compared to traditional film, and this increase is due to higher prices and higher attendance. With over a …

A sharp decrease in advertising spending by the mortgage and loan sectors led a 10% slide in spending across the entire financial services industry this year, according to an analysis released Monday by Nielsen.
Mortgage and loan companies, including Web-based companies, combined to spend 62% — or $778 million — less on advertising during the first three quarters of 2008, compared with the same time period last year.
Overall, ad spending by financial services companies dropped from $5.9 billion in Q1-Q3 2007 to $5.3 billion through September of this year, according to Nielsen.  Nielsen’s data excludes …