NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman doesn’t need to pick a side in tonight’s do-or-die Game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals. After all, history says that Bettman and the NHL have already won – at least when it comes to TV viewers.
The Nielsen Company looked back at the four Stanley Cup Finals match-ups that have gone the full seven games since 2000 and in each case, Game 7 was a ratings windfall. For example, games one through six of the 2006 finals between Edmonton and Carolina averaged 2.4 million viewers. Game …

Todd Hale, Senior Vice President, Consumer and Shopper Insights
Last June, we fielded a survey to our Nielsen Homescan panel which included a question asking primary shoppers about their tendencies for reading labels on food and beverage packages.  Just under two-thirds of U.S. households (61%) agree completely or agree somewhat that they read these product labels, with 31% agreeing completely.  And as you might expect, we do see some differences when we drill down across demographic groups, but we thought it would be interesting to also look at how shoppers at …

Steve McGowan, Senior Vice President, Insights and Client Research, The Nielsen Company, discussed the impact of the digital television transition on viewers, broadcasters, and the TV industry overall on Bloomberg’s “Taking Stock.”
Listen to the clip here.
[this presentation requires flash]

Nielsen Games released its April 2009 data for top console usage and PC game titles with Playstation 2 and the role-playing game World Of Warcraft topping their respective lists.
The Lord of the Rings Online cracked the Top 10 in April, rising to the #3 spot for total minutes played %. While the total share number was modest, the average number of weekly minutes played was a robust 891, the most for any game in the Top 10. The publisher, Turbine, had announced special promotional subscription fees for the …

What does a “Day in the Life” of a technologically savvy mom look like?
Nielsen Online recently hosted a webinar (listen and follow along below) focused on Power Moms based on the recently launched “Power Moms Initiative” in conjunction with Nielsen Life360. The goal was to get a more intimate view of moms’ use of digital tools through groundbreaking video ethnographic research. As part of the study, a select group of women from around the country revealed how they use their “digital toolkits” to juggle careers, manage demanding family schedules, streamline …

Australians, like many consumers around the world, are cutting back personal spending by shopping less often and switching to less expensive and private label brands.  But one area where they refuse to compromise is their drink: sales of premium brands of beer, spirits and bottled wine all showed strong volume sales performance in the first quarter of 2009.
Imported and domestic premium beers posted growth of 15.3 and 18.6 percent, respectively, over the same period last year, while sales of premium spirits rose 21.3 percent.  Cheaper beer and spirit segments also …

Todd Hale, Senior Vice President, Consumer and Shopper Insights
For those of you who attended our 2009 Consumer 360 client conference, you heard the opening remarks from John Lewis, President & CEO, Nielsen Consumer North America, on the impact of the economy on our industry.  His message was about how our company is “investing considerable resources in the area of thought leadership to mine Nielsen content to understand what will happen tomorrow; where (our economy) will settle; and what will the new paradigm look like?”
When John looks at the economy he …

Upon Apple’s announcement of a new iPhone – the iPhone 3G S, slated to be available June 19 – Nielsen takes a look at iPhone insights on its users and usage.

As of April 2009, Nielsen estimates that there are 6.4 million active iPhone users in the U.S., up from 2.1 million a year prior. The most impactful iPhone announcement this week may be the price reduction of $99 for the 8 GB version: cost has been one factor (in addition to AT&T exclusivity) that’s kept the …

In Nielsen’s final update before the June 12 deadline, 2.8 million American households, or 2.5% of the television market, are completely unready for the transition to digital television. Younger, African American and Hispanic homes are disproportionately unready, while the elderly are the most ready.

% OF HOMES COMPLETELY UNREADY FOR DIGITAL TRANSITION

DATE
Total
White
African
American
Hispanic
Asian
Under 35
Over 55

June 7, 2009
2.5
1.9
5.1
4.3
3.1
4.6
1.3

May 25, 2009
2.7
2.1
5.4
4.7
3.2
5.0
1.5

May 10, 2009
2.9
2.3
5.7
4.9
3.4
5.4
1.6

Apr 26, 2009
3.1
2.4
5.9
5.0
4.1
5.7
1.7

Apr 12, 2009
3.2
2.5
5.9
5.4
4.3
5.9
1.7

Mar 29, 2009
3.4
2.7
6.2
5.6
4.4
6.3
1.8

Mar 15, 2009
3.6
2.9
6.6
6.1
4.4
6.5
2.0

Mar 1, 2008
3.9
3.2
6.7
6.5
4.5
7.2
2.2

Feb 15, 2009
4.4
3.6
7.5
7.4
5.1
8.1
2.6

Feb 1, 2009
5.1
4.1
8.7
8.5
6.3
8.6
3.2

Jan 18, 2009
5.7
4.6
9.9
9.7
6.9
8.8
4.0

Dec 21, 2008
6.8
5.6
10.8
11.5
8.1
9.9
5.2

source: The Nielsen Company

“Since February, …

For 25 years, Nielsen has organized what has become one of the most important business events in Italy.  The focus of L’Incontro Nielsen 2009, which was held late last month in Sardinia, was the economic crisis and possible solutions for recovery.
Jeremy Rifkin, president of the Foundation on Economic Trends and an advisor to several heads of state, opened the event by outlining his views of the crises facing the world today: economic, energy and climate. The solution, Rifkin believes, is a third industrial revolution propelled by a hydrogen economy. …