In 2007, U.S. advertisers placed $5.78 billion of advertising in Spanish-language media, according to a report issued Thursday by Nielsen’s Monitor-Plus advertising service.
That’s a 3% increase over the $5.63 billion spent on Spanish-language media in 2006.  Overall in 2007, U.S. advertising spending rose 0.6% over 2006.
Broadcast Media Partners Inc. (Univision’s parent company), which spent $205.9 million on advertising in 2007, was the largest advertiser across all Spanish-language media.  Lexicon marketing, which increased its ad spending by 38% from 2006 to 2007, showed the largest percentage increase.
The Automotive category, which spent just over $659.4 million …

On Tuesday, The Nielsen Company released the first U.S. figures showing video and TV usage across the “three screens”: television, the Internet, and mobile devices.
Nielsen’s findings show that TV users are watching more TV than ever before (127 hrs, 15 min per month), while spending 9% more time using the Internet (26 hrs, 26 min per month) than last year.
A small but growing number of Internet and mobile phone users are also watching video online (2 hrs, 19 min per month) and on their cell phones (3 hrs, 15 min …

Taco Bell’s Fruista Freeze spot, which features a giant talking turtle, topped Nielsen IAG’s list of the 10 most-liked new TV ads featured in Advertising Age on Wednesday. 
The Ad Age list also ranked the 10 most-recalled ads for the four-week period from May 19 to June 15, 2008.  Cymbalta’s “Where does depression hurt; Who does depression hurt?” ad topped that list.
Nielsen IAG measures consumer engagement with television programs, national commercials and product placements.

It’s that time of year at the All England Lawn Tennis Club.  Love — or rather, 40-love, game, set, match — is in the air.
But are U.S. TV viewers enamored of Wimbledon broadcasts?
Since 2001, Wimbledon telecasts have drawn average audiences of 2 to 2.5 million viewers.  Last year’s fortnight of broadcasts drew an average of 2.29 million viewers per telecast — up slightly from 2006, when 2.06 million fans tuned in, on average.
While the 2000 Wimbledon broadcasts claimed the largest U.S. audiences in recent memory (4.07 million viewers per telecast), …

Advertisers spent a record $88.5 billion across 12 key markets in the Asia Pacific region during the fourth quarter of 2007, Nielsen Media Research Asia Pacific reported today. 
Overall, TV, newspaper, and magazine ad spending rose by 12% from 2006 to 2007 across the markets surveyed for the report. 
India (+31%), Indonesia (+17%), China (+15%), and Malaysia (+15%) showed the strongest growth, while Singapore (-1%) and Taiwan (-1%) registered the only ad spending declines. 
The data reveals that China, which claimed 61% of the ad spending for the region in 2007, has emerged …

Broadband users are flocking online to network TV websites, Broadcasting and Cable and The Hollywood Reporter reported Monday.
The stories cited a joint study conducted by Nielsen and the Cable & Telecommunications Association for Marketing (CTAM), which found that 35% of adults surveyed have watched at least one television program via the Internet.  Of those, 87% have watched television programs directly from a TV network website, while 82% have gone online to catch up on an episode they missed on TV.
But don’t expect online streaming video to replace viewing via traditional TV …

With an estimated $62.5 million estimated take over the weekend, the Disney/Pixar animated film “Wall-E,” topped the charts, helping fuel a strong earnings year overall. According to The Hollywood Reporter, year-to-date earnings in 2008 have slightly eclipsed those from the same 2007 period: $4.62 billion vs. $4.6 billion.
The “WALL-E” debut was the fourth-biggest ever for Pixar, compared to a $70.5 million take for 2004’s “The Incredibles,” the $70.3 million opening for 2003’s “Finding Nemo” and a $62.6 million debut for  2001’s “Monsters, Inc.”
Additional updates and results at The Hollywood Reporter.
TOP …

The Los Angeles Times reported that advertisers and broadcasters are countering the ad-skipping tendencies of TiVo owners by boosting the number of paid product placements in shows. The story noted that, according to Nielsen, NBC’s “The Biggest Loser” featured the most product placements (3,977) during the first quarter of this year.
In a separate story, ABC News reported that the increasing use of product placement on TV and radio has caught the attention of the Federal Communications Commission. ABC’s story cited Nielsen data showing prime-time product placements on broadcast …

Despite the growing popularity of viewing television content online, most adults (94%) who subscribe to cable or satellite television services prefer to watch television on traditional TV sets, according to new research conducted by The Nielsen Company for the Cable & Telecommunications Association for Marketing (CTAM).
One-third of the adult broadband users (35%) surveyed for the Nielsen-CTAM study said they had watched at least one television program originally shown on TV via the Internet. Of those who sought out video content online, 87% watched television programs directly from a TV network …

MarketWatch and The Los Angeles Times reported that NBC will become the first television network to make online streaming data available for specific programs.
The data, which will be released via Nielsen Online’s VideoCensus service, will allow advertisers to compare NBC.com’s audience numbers, show by show.
The move could help to make advertisers “more comfortable” with online video advertising, the LA Times reports.