The number of unique viewers of online video increased 1.6% year-over-year, from 133.7 million unique viewers in May 2009 to 135.9 million in May 2010.

With today’s announcement of the creation of NM Incite by The Nielsen Company and McKinsey & Co. we’re delivering the capabilities large companies need to understand and leverage the insights made possible by social media. I could not be more excited and energized about the opportunity to lead this venture.

As penetration of HDTVs, DVRs, broadband and smartphones increased at double- or even triple-digit rates during the last two years, viewing across all major media platforms continues to be fueled by the adoption of technologies that improve the consumer experience.

As the planet awaits the world’s biggest single sporting event, most of the pre-tournament World Cup Buzz is focused around the players who won’t be taking part or could be missing out. The Nielsen Company analyzed English-language online blogs, message boards and social networking sites and found that pre-World Cup player buzz was dominated by injuries.

With the World Cup kickoff just hours away, the tournament is on the mind – and broadband – of soccer fans worldwide. The Nielsen Company looked at the differences in what was driving the World Cup conversation online across seven different countries.

Whether it‘s checking email on the go, connecting with friends through social networks or using turn-by-turn navigation, the capabilities of smartphones are convincing more and more consumers to make the leap from a simple mobile phone to a more sophisticated device.

The Beautiful Game, or joga bonito as the Brazilians say, is coming to mobile. Globally, 21% of survey respondents said they would get at least some of their information from the Internet via their mobile devices.

Smartphone adoption and use of mobile applications is rapidly increasing… what are the most popular apps and who is driving the growth?

The much-anticipated series finale of ABC’s LOST on May 23, which dominated blogosphere chatter and was the most-watched primetime program of the night with an average 13.6 million viewers, also delivered a highly engaging environment for its advertisers.

Following its season premier in April, the music-themed TV show “Glee” saw track downloads from its four compilations jump from 50-350K in the first week. The show’s latest “Showstoppers” album topped the Billboard charts this week as digital sales of all “Glee”-related songs exceeded 500K.