Nielsen has issued a year-end look at the most popular trends among Americans during 2008, covering everything from the top TV programs to the most popular consumer packaged goods.
Alicia Keys’ “As I Am” was the top selling album of 2008, according to Billboard and Nielsen.
Keys also had the most listened-to radio song of the year, “No One,” which drew 3.08 billion radio listeners between November 12, 2007 through November 16, 2008. 
“Low,” by Flo Rida, featuring T-Pain, was the most downloaded song of the year, through November 16.
According to Scarborough Research, a …

Nielsen has issued a year-end look at the most popular trends among Americans during 2008, covering everything from the top TV programs to the most popular consumer packaged goods.
Procter & Gamble was the top advertiser, spending more than $2.3 billion on traditional media advertising in the U.S. through September 30.  General Motors and AT&T rounded out the top three advertisers.
Among the year’s most-liked commercials, ads by the NFL, Budweiser, and Geico were most popular with American audiences. 
Product placements by CVS (on “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition”), TRESemme (on “Project Runway”), and …

Nielsen has issued a year-end look at the most popular trends among Americans during 2008, covering everything from the top TV programs to the most popular consumer packaged goods.
FOX’s “American Idol” was the top TV program of 2008, according to Nielsen.  Tuesday night broadcasts of “American Idol,” through December 7, drew 15.5% of U.S. TV households, on average, while Wednesday night “American Idol” broadcasts drew an average of 15.3% of all TV households.
Viewers with DVR access gave NBC’s “Heroes” the biggest bump any primetime program received in 2008.  The average …

Nielsen has issued a year-end look at the most popular trends among Americans during 2008, covering everything from the top TV programs to the most popular consumer packaged goods.
Up first: movies and DVDs. 
Action and adventure ruled the box office in 2008.  “The Dark Knight,” “Iron Man,” “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” were the top three box office earners this past year, taking in a combined $1.16 billion through December 7.
Among DVD releases, action and adventure flicks also fared well, with “Iron Man” and “I Am Legend” …

Baby boomers are beginning to retire from the U.S. workforce, but according to Nielsen, their buying power remains strong.
Households with baby boomer members — born between 1946 and 1964 – account for nearly $230 billion in sales of consumer packaged goods (CPG) products and represent 55% of total CPG sales, a new study by Nielsen and Hallmark Channel reports.
The research, which examined the CPG spending power and brand loyalty of baby boomer households, found that baby boomer households’ share of sales is 5 points higher than their share of population, according to …

Oprah Winfrey’s influence — sometimes referred to as the “Oprah Effect” — has propelled countless individuals, products, and ideas into the public sphere.
That influence may even extend to her personal trainer, Bob Greene, whose “Best Life” program endorses consumer products that promote healthy living.
According to a recent Nielsen report, products featuring Greene’s “Best Life” seal of approval on their packaging easily outsold traditional food and beverage products. 
In 2008, brands endorsed by “Best Life” generated a 9.2% dollar sales increase, year-over-year, while all food and beverage products increased by just 4.6% …

Once considered a lower-price, lower-quality substitute for name brands, private label products, or store brands, are viewed positively by the majority of U.S. consumers. Nearly three-quarters (72%) of American consumers believe that private label products are good alternatives to name brands according to a new survey by The Nielsen Company. The survey indicates that an improved sense of quality is likely a driving factor for consumers’ positive attitude toward private label products. Sixty-three percent of consumers believe that the quality of the private label brand is as good as name …

Ken Cassar
I found myself at our client meetings last week in San Francisco, Seattle and LA, repeatedly making the point that CPGs had been increasing their online ad spend. This was based upon conversations that I’d been having with folks in the CPG space and the intense interest that we’ve been seeing lately from CPGs in online advertising. As I had a few spare minutes today, I checked AdRelevance to make sure that I was right about this. I was relieved to see that online …

Why do consumers buy the same baby diapers again and again, but switch between different brands of shampoo and toothpaste?
Such buying decisions can be influenced by a consumer’s mindset — or “shopping mode,” a new study released Thursday by Nielsen reports.
The study examined consumer shopping behavior across 22 home and personal care categories and found that shoppers’ mindsets vary according to the kinds of products they seek to purchase. 

Within the whirlwind of negative news regarding the economy and the advertising outlook, I found a significant, welcome trend in the IAB’s recent revenue report covering the first half of this year. I’m scratching my head trying to understand why more hasn’t been made of this, because it portends hugely positive things for the online space.
The IAB recently announced a 15.2% year-over-year growth rate for Internet advertising for the first half of 2008. When you dissect the 15.2% number, some interesting details emerge. Out of nine industries tracked, only four …