Workplace traffic to U.S.-based sports websites was up by 26% in August, compared with traffic to online sports destinations in August 2007, Nielsen Online reported Thursday.
The Beijing Olympics and the start of fall football season may have had something to do with the spike in traffic, Jon Gibs, vice president, media analytics, Nielsen Online, noted.
“With broad interest in the Olympics, and the ramp up of the college and professional football seasons, August was a busy month for online sports fans,” Gibs said.  “The Web offered 24/7 access to news, results …

Each week, Nielsen Sports’ analysts offer their take on the biggest sports media headlines.
College Football: Quartet Of Upsets
Oregon State’s stunning upset of top ranked USC was only the harbinger of what was to come in a wild weekend of college football upsets. 
Oregon State’s victory last Thursday night drew 6.3 Million TV viewers, the largest audience for ESPN’s Thursday Night College Football this season.  The next day, the University of Michigan overcame a 19-point deficit to beat the (then) undefeated Wisconsin Badgers in front of 1.3 million ESPN viewers.
Meanwhile, the Southeastern …

RANK
NAME
NETWORK
DAYS
VIEWERS (P2+)

1
NFL REGULAR SEASON L (JETS/CHARGERS)
ESPN
MONDAY
11,881,000

2
PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE(S)-09/26/2008
FOXNC
FRIDAY
8,211,000

3
ON THE RECORD W/GRETA
FOXNC
FRIDAY
7,413,000

4
SR/PRES DEBATE 1 2008(S)-09/26/2008
CNN
FRIDAY
7,140,000

5
COLL FTBALL-SAT PRIME L (ALABAMA/GEORGIA)
ESPN
SATURDAY
6,683,000

6
ANDERSON COOPER 360
CNN
FRIDAY
6,502,000

7
COLL FTBALL-THUR NIGHT L (USC/OREGON STATE)
ESPN
THURSDAY
6,456,000

8
PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE CVG(S)-09/26/2008
FOXNC
FRIDAY
5,850,000

9
SUITE LIFE ON DECK
DSNY
FRIDAY
5,666,000

10
SUITE LIFE ON DECK
DSNY
SATURDAY
5,129,000

Source: The Nielsen Company (September 22, 2008 – September 28, 2008)

Each week, Nielsen Sports’ analysts offer their take on the biggest sports media headlines.
Ryder Cup Golf — Minus Tiger
Last Friday morning, 1.4 million ESPN viewers tuned in to Ryder Cup golf coverage from Louisville, Kentucky.  With the world’s best golfer, Tiger Woods, sidelined, golf fans were introduced to Team USA Captain Paul Azinger’s rag-tag group of Ryder Cup rookies.  On Saturday, Ryder Cup’s TV audience more than doubled — an average of 3.2 million viewers tuned in to watch the tournament action on NBC, and on Sunday, 3.9 million NBC viewers watched …

ONLINE BRAND
TOTAL STREAMS
 (in 000s)
UNIQUE VIEWERS
(in 000s)

YouTube
4,762,883
76,746

Fox Interactive Media
278,375
16,053

Nickelodeon Kids and Family Network
223,044
6,935

MSN/Windows Live
205,018
12,035

Disney Online
171,249
10,341

Yahoo!
169,259
19,659

ESPN
123,123
5,827

Hulu
107,622
2,632

CNN Digital Network
106,383
8,111

Turner Sports and Entertainment Digital Network
87,441
3,892

Source: Nielsen Online, VideoCensus
Note: Online brands are ranked by video streams; data includes progressive downloads and excludes video advertising.

Read coverage of Nielsen’s findings in Ad Age.

RANK
NAME
NETWORK
DAYS
VIEWERS (P2+)

1
NFL REGULAR SEASON – L (EAGLES/COWBOYS)
ESPN
MONDAY
18,608,000

2
CLOSER, THE
TNT
MONDAY
7,627,000

3
COLL FTBALL-SAT PRIME – L (LSU/AUBURN)
ESPN
SATURDAY
5,562,000

4
HANNITY & COLMES
FOXNC
WEDNESDAY
4,921,000

5
NFL SPORTSCENTER – L
ESPN
MONDAY
4,759,000

6
BURN NOTICE
USA
THURSDAY
4,665,000

7
HANNITY & COLMES
FOXNC
THURSDAY
4,589,000

8
ARMY WIVES
LIF
SUNDAY
4,374,000

9
RAISING THE BAR
TNT
MONDAY
4,210,000

10
WWE ENTERTAINMENT (WWE RAW)
USA
MONDAY
4,209,000

Source: The Nielsen Company (September 15, 2008 – September 21, 2008)

RANK
NAME
DAY(S)
NETWORK
VIEWERS (P2+)

1
NFL REGULAR SEASON – L (VIKINGS/PACKERS)
MONDAY
ESPN
12,501,000

2
NFL REGULAR SEASON – L (BRONCOS/RAIDERS)
MONDAY
ESPN
9,665,000

3
CLOSER, THE
MONDAY
TNT
7,440,000

4
SATURDAY MOVIE III (COCO CHANEL)
SATURDAY
LIF
5,226,000

5
TIME MACHINE
THURSDAY
HIST
5,153,000

6
MONK
FRIDAY
USA
5,020,000

7
RAISING THE BAR
MONDAY
TNT
4,978,000

8
BURN NOTICE
THURSDAY
USA
4,768,000

9
HANNAH MONTANA
SUNDAY
DSNY
4,606,000

10
THE OREILLY FACTOR
MONDAY
FOXNC
4,572,000

Source: The Nielsen Company (September 8, 2008 – September 14, 2008)

RANK
NAME
NETWORK
VIEWERS (P2+)

1
YOU DEC 08-REP CONVENTION(S)-09/04/2008
FOXNC
9,187,000

2
YOU DEC 08-REP CONVENTION(S)-09/03/2008
FOXNC
9,038,000

3
2008 VIDEO MUSIC AWARDS
MTV
8,425,000

4
CLOSER, THE
TNT
8,050,000

5
YOU DEC 08-REP CONVENTION(S)-09/03/2008
FOXNC
8,016,000

6
RAISING THE BAR
TNT
7,735,000

7
YOU DEC 08-REP CONVENTION(S)-09/04/2008
FOXNC
7,010,000

8
COLL FTBALL-SAT PRIME L (MIAMI/FLORIDA)
ESPN
6,954,000

9
THE OREILLY FACTOR
FOXNC
6,644,000

10
YOU DEC 08-REP CONVENTION(S)-09/04/2008
FOXNC
6,440,000

Source: The Nielsen Company (September 1, 2008 – September 7, 2008)

ESPN enthusiasts like their sports — and the more they watch sports, the more ways they follow it.
Sports fans who watched both ESPN and used ESPN.com spent 27% more time watching ESPN TV than TV-only users — and 50% more time using ESPN.com than Internet-only viewers, according to a recent study of ESPN fans’ cross-platform media consumption habits by Nielsen Connections.
Pete Doe, Managing Director, Nielsen Connections, and Glenn Enoch, Vice President, Audience Research, ESPN, reported the findings of that research in the September issue of Nielsen’s “Consumer Insight” online newsletter.

RANK
NAME
NETWORK
VIEWERS (P2+)

1
SR/DNC 2008(S)-08/28/2008
CNN
8,056,000

2
CLOSER, THE
TNT
7,415,000

3
NASCAR SPRINT CUP L (PEPSI 500 AT CALIFORNIA)
ESPN
5,638,000

4
SR/DNC 2008(S)-08/28/2008
CNN
5,529,000

5
SR/DNC 2008(S)-08/27/2008
CNN
5,375,000

6
SR/DNC 2008(S)-08/27/2008
CNN
4,926,000

7
SR/DNC 2008(S)-08/26/2008
CNN
4,802,000

8
SR/DNC 2008(S)-08/25/2008
CNN
4,525,000

9
SR/DNC 2008(S)-08/28/2008
CNN
4,319,000

10
SAVING GRACE
TNT
4,268,000

Source: The Nielsen Company (August 25, 2008 – August 31, 2008)