NFL games airing in primetime are breaking records this season, and they share one common denominator: the Dallas Cowboys.
First it was the thrilling September 15th matchup with the Philadelphia Eagles on ESPN’s Monday Night Football.  The Cowboys prevailed in a 41-37 shootout watched by 18.6 million viewers, the most ever for a cable program.

More than 78 million Americans visited sports websites in November, a 5% increase over the same month last year. 
 
Yahoo! Sports was the top sports site, drawing nearly 23 million unique visitors last month – a 2% jump from a year ago.  In November, the average Yahoo! Sports user spent 20% more time on the site, compared to last year.
 
ESPN.com placed second in Nielsen’s ranking, but showed the greatest increase in unique visitors (+12%).  ESPN’s users also logged on for 20% more sessions last month than in November 2007.
 
NFL Internet Network, FOX Sports on MSN, and CBS Sports …

National Ratings [updated 12/12]
Last Saturday’s SEC Championship added another notch to a record-breaking year in sports television. The Florida Gators defeated the Alabama Crimson Tide in front of 15.1 million CBS viewers and 9.3% of the nation’s households, making it the most watched SEC Championship ever and the highest rating for a non-bowl college game since 2006.
Meanwhile, ABC’s Saturday Night Football had its own share of ratings success with six of the top seven rated contests this season. The network averaged 8.2 million viewers and a 5.0 household rating for …

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: …

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.

Less than a month into watching the NBA season, Nielsen has spotted some noticeable trends, including several teams outscoring last year’s ratings in their local markets. While the San Antonio Spurs are still the highest-rated NBA team with a 6.8 Average Household Rating in their market, the Cleveland Cavaliers and Portland Trailblazers are close behind, thanks to large increases in viewership compared to this time period last season.
NBA Local Ratings Box Score

The New Orleans Hornets ratings are up 163% compared to a year ago, thanks in large part …

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 …

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 …

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% …