Following the positive trends exhibited in the first quarter of 2010, Europe’s second quarter was a disappointment according to the latest Nielsen European Growth Reporter.

While global consumer confidence continues the slow but steady climb upward from the lows experienced in the first quarter of 2009, consumer spending is following a similar trajectory.

Global consumer confidence edged up slightly as rising Asian markets were offset by Europe’s growing concerns of an escalating debt crisis according to the Nielsen Global Consumer Confidence Index.

The first quarter of 2010 shows a positive trend in nominal value growth rates in most countries, which was driven primarily through volume growth improvement… However, the economic turmoil reached Eastern Europe with a 12-month lag.

Television viewing in the U.S. spiked by 17% during the Atlanta Summer Olympic Games in 1996, while TV viewing in Australia during the 2000 Sydney Summer Games jumped by 39%, according to a recent Nielsen report analyzing media trends from past Olympics.
Nielsen’s report also found that advertising spending in Olympic host countries grew significantly in both the U.S. and Greece in the years following the 1996 and 2004 Olympics. 
Only Australia saw declines in ad spending following the 2000 summer Games.  Those decreases can be attributed to general cutbacks in spending in the …