Tourism to China is expected to surge, following the Beijing Summer Games.
According to a 16-market survey conducted by Nielsen after the Olympics’ opening and closing ceremonies, consumers throughout the world are increasingly interested in traveling to mainland China. 
Forty-five percent of those surveyed after the Opening ceremony said they intended to travel to mainland China at some point.  Following the Closing Ceremony, that percentage increased to 51%.  For 80% of the respondents, who had never visited mainland China, it would their first trip to the country.
Meanwhile, respondents who said they had …

Among the many winners at the recent Summer Olympic Games: the city of Beijing.
According to a survey conducted by Nielsen after the closing ceremony, seven in 10 viewers across 16 countries and territories said Beijing appeared more “modern” and “high-tech” than they had expected.
Beijing also looked cleaner and greener than many viewers expected — 56% said the city’s physical environment exceeded their expectations.
Nine in 10 foreigners who visited Beijing for the Olympics also told Nielsen the city’s Olympics venues were “good” or “very good.”
View the full press release.
Read The Wall …

It’s official: the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games attracted the largest global TV audience ever. 
Between August 8 and August 24, 4.7 billion viewers — or 70% of the world’s population — tuned in to watch the Games, according to Nielsen.  In comparison, 3.9 billion watched the 2004 Athens Games, while 3.6 billion followed the 2000 Sydney Games on TV. 
Host nation China led the viewing with 94% of Chinese viewers tuning in to the Olympics TV coverage, Nielsen reported.  South Korea, though a much less populous nation, also recorded 94% audience reach.  Mexico followed closely with …

Olympic athletes broke 132 Olympics records and set 43 new world records during the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing.
Meanwhile, Olympics fans who logged on to the Internet to follow the events around the clock set a new online precedent during the Games,  Nielsen Online reported Wednesday.
Olympics Web Portals
In the U.S., NBC, an official broadcast partner for the event, drew an average of 18 million (week one) to 18.9 million unique visitors (week two) to its Olympics website during the Games.
Yahoo’s Olympics section drove more traffic than NBC’s site, but visitors to NBCOlympics.com …

Senators McCain and Obama spent about the same on Olympics TV advertising — between $5 and $6 million, Adweek reported Monday.
But McCain got much more bang for his advertising bucks, according to an analysis by Nielsen IAG.
Nielsen’s survey of 1,600 likely general election voters who watched the Beijing Games found that McCain’s Olympic ads more effectively communicated a basic message, were recalled by more viewers, and triggered a larger intent-to-vote increase among viewers than ads run by Obama’s campaign. 
On average, the two McCain ads that were surveyed — “Celebrity” and “Washington’s …

NBC’s “America’s Got Talent” claimed the top spot in Nielsen’s ranking of primetime broadcast TV programs for Tuesday, August 26, 2008.
The telecast drew an average audience of 11.1 million viewers, while CBS’s “NCIS” and FOX’s “House” were ranked second and third, respectively, with 7.5 million and 6.8 million average viewers each.
Coverage of the second night of the Democratic National Convention on NBC and ABC also made the top ten.

RANK
NAME
NETWORK
VIEWERS (P2+)

1
AMERICA’S GOT TALENT
NBC
11,118,000

2
NCIS
CBS
7,453,000

3
HOUSE
FOX
6,808,000

4
WIPEOUT
ABC
6,325,000

5
BIG BROTHER 10-TUE
CBS
6,284,000

6
DECISION ‘08 DEM CONV TUE(S)-08/26/2008
NBC
5,976,000

7
AL DIABLO CON GUAPOS TUE
UNI
5,317,000

8
FUEGO EN LA SANGRE TUE
UNI
5,218,000

9
HOUSE-TUE 8P
FOX
4,867,000

10
VOTE2008:DEM NAT CONV-TUE(S)-08/26/2008
ABC
4,758,000

Source: The …

DATE 
NETWORK
VIEWERS (P2+)

FRIDAY, AUGUST 8, 2008
(OPENING CEREMONY)
NBC
34,891,000

SATURDAY, AUGUST 9, 2008
NBC
24,082,000

SUNDAY, AUGUST 10, 2008
NBC
32,256,000

MONDAY, AUGUST 11, 2008
NBC
30,173,000

TUESDAY, AUGUST 12, 2008
NBC
34,014,000

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 13, 2008
NBC
27,656,000

THURSDAY, AUGUST 14, 2008
NBC
29,708,000

FRIDAY, AUGUST 15, 2008
NBC
26,071,000

SATURDAY, AUGUST 16, 2008
NBC
31,593,000

SUNDAY, AUGUST 17, 2008
NBC
27,184,000

MONDAY, AUGUST 18, 2008
NBC
26,374,000

TUESDAY, AUGUST 19, 2008
NBC
26,629,000

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 20, 2008
NBC
24,755,000

THURSDAY, AUGUST 21, 2008
NBC
22,438,000

FRIDAY, AUGUST 22, 2008
NBC
17,876,000

SATURDAY, AUGUST 23, 2008
NBC
16,756,000

SUNDAY, AUGUST 24, 2008
(CLOSING CEREMONY)
NBC
27,834,000

AVERAGE OF PRIMETIME OLYMPICS COVERAGE
NBC
27,690,000

Source: The Nielsen Company (August 8, 2008 – August 24, 2008)

NBC’s “Deal or No Deal” and “America’s Toughest Jobs” were, respectively, the number one- and number three-ranked primetime telecasts on broadcast TV for Monday, August 25, 2008.
CBS’s “Two and a Half Men” was sandwiched between the two, in second place.
NBC’s coverage of the 2008 Democratic National Convention also made the top ten.

RANK
NAME
NETWORK
VIEWERS (P2+)

1
DEAL OR NO DEAL-MON
NBC
10,999,000

2
TWO AND A HALF MEN
CBS
9,030,000

3
AMERICA’S TOUGHEST JOBS
NBC
7,298,000

4
OLD CHRISTINE
CBS
6,631,000

5
HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER
CBS
5,545,000

6
BIG BANG THEORY, THE
CBS
5,481,000

7
AL DIABLO CON GUAPOS MON
UNI
5,342,000

8
FUEGO EN LA SANGRE MON
UNI
5,167,000

9
DECISION ‘08 DEM CONV MON(S)-08/25/2008
NBC
4,706,000

10
PRISON BREAK SP-8/25 9P(S)-08/25/2008
FOX
4,288,000

Source: The Nielsen Company (August 25, …

As athletes continued to break world records in the last days of the 2008 Summer Olympics, the Beijing Games’ set a record of its own – as the most-watched Olympics ever.   
Global television broadcasts during the first ten days of the Games (August 8 – 17) attracted a cumulative TV audience of 4.4 billion viewers — or almost two-thirds of the world’s population, according to Nielsen.
In contrast, the 2004 Athens Summer Games attracted a total of 3.9 billion viewers worldwide, while the 2000 Summer Games in Sydney drew 3.6 billion total viewers.
Nielsen’s global audience estimates are …

NBC’s broadcast of the 2008 Beijing Olympics again claimed the top slot in Nielsen’s ranking of primetime telecasts for Friday, August 22, 2008.
CBS’s “NFL Pre-Season Special” and FOX’s “Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader?” rounded out the top three.

RANK
NAME
NETWORK
VIEWERS (P2+)

1
SUM OLYM FRI PRIME 2(S)-08/22/2008
NBC
17,876,000

2
NFL PRE-SEASON(S)-08/22/2008
CBS
4,825,000

3
SMARTER THAN 5TH 8/22-9P(S)-08/22/2008
FOX
4,120,000

4
FUEGO EN LA SANGRE FRI
UNI
4,094,000

5
AL DIABLO CON GUAPOS FRI
UNI
4,006,000

6
20/20-FRI
ABC
3,844,000

7
SMARTER THAN 5TH 8/22-8P(S)-08/22/2008
FOX
3,843,000

8
ABC FRI MOVIE OF THE WK
ABC
3,790,000

9
FRIDAY NIGHT SMACKDOWN
CW
3,617,000

10
ROSA DE GUADALUPE FRI
UNI
2,700,000

Source: The Nielsen Company (August 22, 2008)

Overall, NBC won the night with an average audience of almost 17.9 million viewers, while …