Senators McCain and Obama are each spending sizable sums of money on TV advertising during the Olympics.  But when it comes to placing display advertising online, both candidates have relatively unimpressive records, Mediaweek Senior Editor Mike Shields noted Monday in a column.
“The 2008 race has been lametastic when it comes to online advertising,” Shields wrote, adding: “McCain’s been nearly invisible when it comes to display advertising.”
Senator McCain placed 16 million online display ad impressions in June, while Sen. Obama ran 80 million impressions, Shields noted, citing Nielsen Online data. 
View additional …

Like their counterparts in Europe and North America, Chinese Olympics fans are turning to multimedia sources for coverage of the 2008 Beijing Games, according to a recent Nielsen survey of Internet users in China.
In addition to watching the Games on TV, three of four people in China will keep abreast of Olympics events via streaming online video, one-third will rely on mobile phone text updates, and 14% will view video clips of the Games on their mobile phones, Nielsen’s survey found.
Two in 10 Chinese plan to use online video streaming as their main method of …

During the first two days of the 2008 Olympics (August 8-9), NBCOlympics.com was the most visited, Olympics-related U.S. website, Nielsen Online reported Monday.
Yahoo’s Olympics site drew slightly larger unique audiences in the two days leading up to the Opening Ceremony in Beijing (August 6-7), but its popularity was eclipsed by NBC’s site after the Olympics Opening Ceremony aired on NBC on Friday, August 8.

Rank
(by Aug. 9 UA)
Website
Unique Audience:
Aug. 6
(in 000’s)
Unique Audience:
Aug. 7
(in 000’s)
Unique Audience:
Aug. 8
(in 000’s)
Unique Audience:
Aug. 9
(in 000’s)

1
NBC Olympics
841
1,392
2,664
4,008

2
Yahoo Olympics
1,505
1,430
1,477
3,324

3
AOL Olympics
511
718
395
1,010

4
Beijing2008.cn
39
114
429
780

5
New York Times Olympics
432
369
341
466

6
ESPN Olympics
196
80
273
343

7
Sports Illustrated Olympics
458
239
293
331

8
USA Today Olympics
34
55
280
184

9
Olympics.org
NA*
10
16
153

10
BBC …

Nearly 45% of U.S. and 31% of UK mobile video users will join the mobile audience for the 2008 Olympic Games, Nielsen Mobile reported Thursday. 
Nielsen’s data shows that U.S. and UK consumers are especially likely to view high-profile, short events, such as Track and Field and Gymnastics, on their mobile phones.  
The mobile Internet will also play a critical role in mobile Olympics viewing, with 23% of U.S. and 17% of UK mobile Internet users planning to track the Games through their phone browsers, according to Nielsen.
“Mobile media will change the …

Date
Athens2004.com
(Olympics.com redirects
to Athens2004.com)
NBCOlympics.com

Fri, 8/13/04
196,000*
332,000

Sat, 8/14/04
182,000*
513,000

Sun, 8/15/04
256,000*
537,000

Mon, 8/16/04
219,000*
399,000

Tue, 8/17/04
180,000*
498,000

Wed, 8/18/04
n/a**
613,000

Thu, 8/19/04
185,000*
572,000

Fri, 8/20/04
n/a**
397,000

Sat, 8/21/04
n/a**
454,000

Sun, 8/22/04
228,000*
418,000

Mon, 8/23/04
200,000*
472,000

Tue, 8/24/04
188,000*
424,000

Wed, 8/25/04
139,000*
187,000*

Thu, 8/26/04
154,000*
367,000

Fri, 8/27/04
n/a**
268,000*

Sat, 8/28/04
n/a**
285,000

Sun, 8/29/04
n/a**
301,000

Source: The Nielsen Company (August 13, 2004 – August 29, 2004)

Data includes U.S. home Web traffic only.

*Indicates website does not meet minimum sample size standards, and therefore projected and average measures for this site may exhibit large changes month-to-month as a result.

**Not reportable for daily data.

Date
Saltlake2002.com
(Olympics.com redirects
to Saltlake2002.com)
NBCOlympics.com

Fri, 2/8/02
143,000
267,000

Sat, 2/9/02
226,000
398,000

Sun, 2/10/02
311,000
241,000

Mon, 2/11/02
167,000
342,000

Tue, 2/12/02
280,000
438,000

Wed, 2/13/02
229,000
376,000

Thu, 2/14/02
173,000
254,000

Fri, 2/15/02
135,000
235,000

Sat, 2/16/02
135,000
354,000

Sun, 2/17/02
213,000
347,000

Mon, 2/18/02
175,000
298,000

Tue, 2/19/02
150,000
324,000

Wed, 2/20/02
168,000
291,000

Thu, 2/21/02
262,000
545,000

Fri, 2/22/02
235,000
314,000

Sat, 2/23/02
203,000
360,000

Sun, 2/24/02
333,000
317,000

Mon, 2/25/02
142,000
113,000*

Source: The Nielsen Company (February 8, 2002 – February 25, 2002)

Data includes U.S. home Web traffic only.

*Indicates website does not meet minimum sample size standards, and therefore projected and average measures for this site may exhibit large changes month-to-month as a result.

The U.S. audiences for three key Olympics related websites, NBColympics.com, Olympic.org, and USolympicteam.com, grew by significant percentages from the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Games to the 2006 winter Games in Italy, according to Nielsen Online.
Olympic.org experienced the largest growth of the three sites; its unique audience (both home and work) in the U.S. grew from 330,000 in 2002 to 1.39 million  in 2006 — a 323% increase.
USolympicteam.com’s unique home and work audience in the U.S. grew from 508,000 during the 2002 Games to 716,000 in 2006 — a 41% increase.
Although NBColympics.com easily …

For perhaps the first time in Olympics history, a significant number of viewers will track the Games’ results via their mobile phones. 
American consumers are particularly likely to view Olympics content on their phones, a recent survey by Nielsen Mobile found. 
Consumers in the UK and Spain also showed strong interest in watching the Beijing Games and receiving Olympics results from their mobile phones, according to Nielsen Mobile.  Those in the UK said they plan to read Olympics-related Web articles and monitor the medal count via their phones, while Spanish consumers reported they will most likely …

Nielsen Online is partnering with Adweek Media (a unit of The Nielsen Company) to produce this year’s Buzz Awards. 
The competition celebrates innovative advertising and marketing efforts, with prizes awarded across seventeen categories, ranging from viral marketing, radio and print, to wireless promotion, public relations, and social media.
The Grand Prize winner will receive a four-color ad spread in Adweek, Brandweek, and Mediaweek (valued at $64,100).
The deadline for submissions is August 18.  Click here to enter.

U.S. newspaper websites attracted more visitors in 2008, CNNMoney.com reported Tuesday.
During the second quarter of this year, newspaper sites saw a 12% increase in unique visitors, compared with the same time period a year ago, according to data compiled by Nielsen Online for the Newspaper Association of America (NAA).
In all, newspaper sites had a combined average of 66.4 million unique U.S. visitors per month during Q2 2008 — up from 59.2 million in Q2 2007, Nielsen and the NAA reported.