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.
Google was the most popular website with U.S. Internet users, drawing the largest audience (120 million unique visitors per month, on average) through October 2008.
As of 2008, the most prolific content downloaders in the U.S. live in California, according to Scarborough Research, a joint partnership with Nielsen and Arbitron. The San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose market had the highest percentage (32%) of adults who had downloaded …

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It seems there has been a lot of discussion lately about the cloud, and questions of a looming shift in computing. I find the most interesting discussion to be the one that surrounds Internet applications that have traditionally been considered desktop apps. If consumers move toward accessing traditional software in this way, it will signify a major shift. Our entire PC experience could change. But it is hard to picture this future with so few real world examples at present. If a shift happens, when will it be? Five …

Google was the top-ranked Web brand in October, drawing more than 122 million unique visitors during the month, Nielsen Online reported Wednesday.
Yahoo! and MSN/Windows Live rounded out the top three, with unique audiences of just over 116 million and 102 million visitors, respectively.

Rank
Top Web Brands
Unique Audience
(in 000s)
Time Per Person
(hh:mm:ss)

1
Google
122,325
1:23:07

2
Yahoo!
116,078
3:23:29

3
MSN/Windows Live
102,494
2:23:27

4
Microsoft
92,348
0:45:54

5
AOL Media Network
88,028
3:34:41

6
YouTube
77,480
0:53:25

7
Fox Interactive Media
67,182
1:37:12

8
Wikipedia
56,896
0:20:07

9
Apple
49,340
0:58:34

10
eBay
49,213
1:47:26

Source: The Nielsen Company (October 2008).

View the full press release.
View the top U.S. Web brands for September 2008.

According to Nielsen Online, Google Search accounted for more than half of all online searches in the month of September with an estimated 4.8 billion queries. Yahoo!, MSN, AOL, and Ask.com rounded out the top five.

RANK
Provider
Searches (000)
% of Searches

#
All Searches
8,089,226
100.00%

1
Google Search
4,825,556
59.70%

2
Yahoo! Search
1,464,478
18.10%

3
MSN/Windows Live Search
953,504
11.80%

4
AOL Search
335,187
4.10%

5
Ask.com Search
178,217
2.20%

6
My Web Search
53,825
0.70%

7
Comcast Search
51,935
0.60%

8
AT&T Worldnet Search
30,086
0.40%

9
NexTag Search
17,775
0.20%

10
Dogpile.com Search
17,574
0.20%

Source: Nielsen Online, MegaView Search -September 2008

View the full press release.

Microsoft unseated longtime number two-ranked Web brand, Yahoo! in September, Nielsen Online reported Wednesday.
Last month, Microsoft drew almost 120.9 million unique visitors, while Yahoo! drew 116.7 million.
Google remained the top-ranked Web brand in September, with more than 127 million unique visitors, according to Nielsen.

Baidu, China’s leading online search engine, was the most popular website in China in early September, according to data released Friday by CR-Nielsen, Nielsen Online’s joint venture partnership in China with Beijing Zhongqian Wangrun IT Co. Ltd.
Between September 8 and 14, Baidu attracted 171 million unique browsers — more than double the volume of Google China, which drew 81 million unique browsers during the same period.
CR-Nielsen is the first company authorized to support the delivery of standardized Internet measurement and analysis services in China — home to an estimated 253 million …

Google and Yahoo! were again the number one- and number two-ranked Web brands in August, according to Nielsen Online.

Rank
Web Brand
Unique Audience
(in 000s)
Time Per Person
(hh:mm:ss)

1
Google
123,690
1:25:18

2
Yahoo!
117,702
3:22:31

3
MSN/Windows Live
103,953
2:21:25

4
Microsoft
93,558
12:38:39

5
AOL Media Network
93,070
3:33:46

6
YouTube
75,442
1:01:01

7
Fox Interactive Media
70,696
1:54:24

8
eBay
55,842
1:52:01

9
Wikipedia
52,987
0:21:24

10
Apple
48,766
1:10:42

Source: The Nielsen Company (August 1, 2008 – August 31, 2008).

Google (60% search share) and Yahoo! (18.1% search share) were the number one- and number two-ranked online search providers in the U.S. for August, according to Nielsen Online.
AT&T Worldnet Search (+203.8%) and Comcast Search (+30.9%) showed the largest year-over-year growth for the time period.

Provider
Searches
(in 000’s)
Year-Over-Year
Growth
Share
of Searches

All Search Providers
7,222,826
-7.7%
100.0%

Google Search
4,331,153
3.1%
60.0%

Yahoo! Search
1,304,889
-16.5%
18.1%

MSN/Windows Live Search
770,592
-23.8%
10.7%

AOL Search
376,331
-13.5%
5.2%

Ask.com Search
143,231
4.7%
2.0%

Comcast Search
45,438
30.9%
0.6%

My Web Search
38,550
-46.3%
0.5%

AT&T Worldnet Search
30,272
203.8%
0.4%

NexTag Search
17,901
-20.6%
0.2%

Dogpile.com Search
15,418
-27.8%
0.2%

Source: The Nielsen Company (August 1, 2008 - August 31, 2008)

Google could soon be the search engine of choice for Verizon Wireless phones — that is, if the two companies hammer out a partnership deal in the next month or so, The New York Times reported Friday.
The growing popularity of sophisticated mobile phones with simplified Web searching makes the prospective deal with Google especially attractive for Verizon Wireless, the Times noted.
“There is demand for Google search despite what the carriers put in front of them,” Roger Entner, a telecommunications analyst at Nielsen IAG, told the Times. “Consumers want brand names they know.”
The deal also makes …

Google (60.2% search share) and Yahoo! (17.4% search share) were the number one- and number two-ranked online search providers in the U.S. for July, according to Nielsen Online. 
AT&T Worldnet Search showed the largest year-over-year growth (+210%) for that time period. 

Provider
Searches
(in 000’s)
Year-Over-Year
Growth
Share
of Searches

All Search
7,996,956
3%
100.0%

Google Search
4,812,974
16%
60.2%

Yahoo! Search
1,393,723
-11%
17.4%

MSN/Windows Live Search
951,882
-10%
11.9%

AOL Search
369,611
-9%
4.6%

Ask.com Search
162,337
13%
2.0%

Comcast Search
45,511
22%
0.6%

My Web Search
43,085
-38%
0.5%

AT&T Worldnet Search
33,128
210%
0.4%

NexTag Search
21,218
5%
0.3%

Dogpile.com Search
17,270
-33%
0.2%

Source: The Nielsen Company (July 1, 2008 – July 31, 2008)

Search providers are ranked by the total number of search queries conducted at the provider.
Read coverage of Nielsen’s findings on CNET, Silicon Alley Insider, and in Mediaweek.