Most U.S. consumers (86%) believe the country is currently in a recession, and more than half (54%) believe it will last longer than 12 months, Nielsen reported Monday.
The findings come from Nielsen’s Global Online Consumer Survey, conducted in 52 markets worldwide between September 22 and October 6, 2008.
Only 18% of respondents said they believe the recession will be over within a year.  Younger survey participants (ages 25 to 29) expressed the least amount of confidence, with just 6% saying the recession would be over within 12 months.  Older respondents (ages 65 and older) were …

When is the best time to engage with sport fans? 
It may depend on the time of the year, according to a multi-sport study from Nielsen PreView.  The research, which analyzed fan loyalty for more than a dozen sports found that while some fans are fully dedicated to one sport, many have competing loyalties that affect their engagement with each sport. 
For instance, while NCAA Basketball season begins in the fall – when baseball and football are also on the sports scene, February and March are the prime months when basketball fans are most …

In these tumultuous economic times, curtailed consumer spending and shrinking retail growth has become the new norm. 
Writing in the November issue of Nielsen’s “Consumer Insight” online newsletter, Todd Hale, Senior Vice President, Consumer & Shopper Insights, Nielsen, highlights one notable exception to this trend: at-home gourmands, who not only shop more frequently than the average household, but also spend more at club, grocery, drug, and dollar stores.

Fall TV premieres, coupled with coverage of the presidential election and the financial crisis, boosted online video viewing at all four networks’ websites in September.
NBC.com, which grew 312% month-over-month, saw the largest September increase in video viewers, followed by FOX Broadcasting and ABC.com, with 165% and 105% growth, respectively, Nielsen Online reported Thursday.

Rank
(by UV) 
TV Network
Web Property
Unique Viewers
(in 000s)
% Change:
Unique Viewers
(Aug. – Sept. 2008)

1
NBC.com
5,557
312%

2
ABC.COM
5,246
105%

3
CBS Television
3,296
38%

4
FOX Broadcasting
1,371
165%

Source: Nielsen Online, VideoCensus (August – September 2008).

Note: Data includes progressive downloads and excludes video advertising.

“A combination of series and season premiers, political news and parodies, and coverage …

If election night were a television program, its 71 million plus viewers would place it second only to the Super Bowl as the most watched event of 2008. In a year of remarkable sporting events, coverage of the Presidential qualifying rounds also drew huge ratings, as the candidates sparred in primaries, conventions, and debates in hopes of becoming the last one standing.
Sports metaphors in politics and the intermingling of the two genres are nothing new: retired athletes fill the halls of congress, Presidents throw out first pitches, and Championship teams …

Surging online activity on Election Day accompanied record voter turn-out at the polls, as voters flocked to current events and news sites to follow election results.
Web traffic to sites within the “Current Events and Global News” category was up 27% on Election Day, versus the previous Tuesday (Oct. 28), Nielsen Online reported Wednesday.
The candidates’ websites also drew healthy traffic on Election Day.  Obama’s site had 1.2 million unique visitors on Nov. 4, while McCain’s site had 479,000 unique visitors.

Rank
(by
Nov. 4 UA)
Website
Unique Audience:
Oct. 28, 2008
(in 000s)
Unique Audience:
Nov. 4, 2008
(in 000s)
% Change

1
CNN Digital Network
8,496
12,847
51%

2
MSNBC …

Nielsen Games released its data for the most popular PC game titles and most-played console types for September, a month in which casual games saw heavy PC gameplay.
Top 10 PC Game Titles: September 2008

RANK
Game
Publisher
Share
Avg. Mins
Per Week
TMP%

1
World of Warcraft
Blizzard Entertainment
13.775
599
69.301

2
Cake Mania 3
Sandlot Games
5.252
114
2.383

3
SKIP-BO Castaway Caper
RealArcade
4.263
94
2.278

4
Diner Dash 2
PlayFirst
3.396
99
2.021

5
Chessmaster Challenge
PlayFirst
7.095
53
1.864

6
Mystery Case Files: Prime Suspects
Big Fish Games, Inc
3.212
124
1.671

7
Zoo Tycoon
Microsoft Game Studios
2.144
96
0.873

8
Diner Dash: Seasonal Snack Pack
PlayFirst
3.495
57
0.814

9
Mystery Case Files: Huntsville
Big Fish Games, Inc
2.107
73
0.677

10
Polar Bowler
WildTangent, Inc.
3.165
32
0.386

Source: Nielsen GamesShare is the percentage of the gaming audience measured that played the titleOverall TMP% …

TV coverage of the 2008 U.S. election results drew more than 71 million average viewers Tuesday night, according to Nielsen.
Live news coverage was carried on both broadcast and cable networks, including Spanish-language networks: ABC, CBS, FOX Broadcast, NBC, Telemundo, Univision, BBC America, BET, CNBC, CNN, FOX News Channel, MSNBC, and TV One.
Nielsen’s audience estimates include primetime coverage, from 8pm to 11pm, in the Eastern and Central Time Zones and live in Mountain and Pacific Time Zones.

Audience estimates for the 8pm to 12:30am time frame, which featured Sen. McCain’s concession speech and …

At 70 million copies sold — and counting, since its release in 1988, “Madden NFL Football” is the most popular sports video game of all time.
What’s driving the wild success of EA Sports’ star product? 
A marketing vision that combines a deep understanding of the game’s core fan base with an innovative, “three-screen” strategy that leverages TV, online, and mobile phone outlets for the game, Matt Foran of Nielsen Sports, writes in the November issue of Nielsen’s “Consumer Insight” online newsletter.

Given the current, sluggish economic climate, retailers will have to look hard to find growth opportunities in the U.S.
According to Nielsen Claritas, they might start by taking a closer look at large, fast-growing metro areas, like Atlanta, Dallas, and Phoenix. 
These three markets ranked as the top three fastest growing U.S. markets in the last eight years — and could offer the retail industry some hard-to-come-by expansion opportunities, Nielsen reported in a new study released Monday.
“While some of these markets like Phoenix and Los Angeles have been hard hit by the recent wave …