Rural American households spent more than twice as much on canning and freezing supplies, 47% more on automotive products, and 38% more on tobacco and accessories than average American households during the 52 weeks ending June 28, 2008, according to Nielsen.
“Plain Rural Living” households — a Nielsen Spectra lifestyle segment that includes households in small towns and rural areas with the lowest population densities — account for 21% of all American households.  These households represented 43% of canning/freezing supplies product dollar sales, 31% of automotive product dollar sales, and 29% of tobacco and …

Advertising in Africa, Asia Pacific, Europe, and North America grew by 1.5%, year-over-year, in the second quarter of 2008, Nielsen reported Wednesday.
Strong advertising growth in the Asia-Pacific region (+7.6% over Q2 2007) drove the increase, according to data released in Nielsen’s latest Global AdView Pulse report.
Ad spending trends worldwide showed significant variations — with overall advertising declines recorded in North America (-1%) and Europe (-3%).

Advertising spending for the first half of 2008 declined by 1.4% compared to the same period last year, Nielsen Monitor-Plus reported Thursday.
Despite a continued softening of the economy, several media showed healthy growth in advertising for the first half.  Advertising on Cable TV (+8.1%), Syndication TV (+7.2%), and National Sunday Supplements (+7.2%) saw the largest growth, according to Nielsen.  Spot Radio fared worst among the 19 media categories analyzed by Nielsen (-10.1%). 
Although overall Internet ad spending, when including paid search and online video advertising, was up by 11% during the first half of …