Fans worldwide are heading online to take advantage of around-the-clock access to updated Olympics content and video, Nielsen Online reported Tuesday.
During the first week of competition, an average of 930,000 fans per day, from ten countries in Europe, Asia, and the Americas, visited Beijing2008.cn, the official Website of the Beijing Games, according to Nielsen.  On several days during that period, traffic to the site exceeded one million unique visitors.
Within China, traffic to Beijing2008.cn, averaged 1.5 million unique browsers per day during the period, according to ChinaRank, Nielsen’s China-based Internet traffic measurement partner.

Country
Average …

NBC’s broadcast of the 2008 Beijing Olympics again claimed the top slot in Nielsen’s ranking of primetime telecasts for Friday, August 15, 2008.
ABC’s “20-20” and CBS’s “Ghost Whisperer” rounded out the top three.

RANK
NAME
NETWORK
VIEWERS (P2+)

1
SUM OLYM FRI PRIME 1(S)-08/15/2008
NBC
26,071,000

2
20/20-FRI
ABC
5,523,000

3
GHOST WHISPERER
CBS
4,911,000

4
NUMB3RS 9PM
CBS
4,671,000

5
AL DIABLO CON GUAPOS FRI
UNI
4,246,000

6
FRIDAY NIGHT SMACKDOWN
CW
4,237,000

7
FUEGO EN LA SANGRE FRI
UNI
3,998,000

8
ABC FRI MOVIE OF THE WK
ABC
3,892,000

9
NFL ON FOX PRESEASON 2(S)-08/15/2008
FOX
3,534,000

10
SWINGTOWN
CBS
3,240,000

Source: The Nielsen Company (August 15, 2008)

Overall, NBC won the night with an average audience of just under 26.1 million viewers, while ABC took second place with 4.4 million average viewers.  CBS …

Among the many Olympics winners so far are a handful of advertisers, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday.
Ads created especially for the Beijing Games by Coca-Cola, General Electric, Oreo, and Visa were among the best-remembered and most-liked commercials during the first week of the Beijing Olympics, according to Nielsen IAG, which uses an online panel to track the performance of advertising.
A Coca-Cola ad in which animated birds use straws swiped from Coke bottles to construct a nest resembling the Olympic stadium in Beijing was especially popular with Olympics viewers, Nielsen reported.
An …

NBC’s broadcast of the 2008 Beijing Olympics again claimed the top slot in Nielsen’s ranking of primetime telecasts for Thursday, August 14, 2008.
CBS’s “Flashpoint” and “Big Brother” rounded out the top three.

RANK
NAME
NETWORK
VIEWERS (P2+)

1
SUM OLYM THU PRIME 1(S)-08/14/2008
NBC
29,708,000

2
FLASHPOINT
CBS
6,113,000

3
BIG BROTHER 10-THU
CBS
5,864,000

4
CSI
CBS
5,325,000

5
AL DIABLO CON GUAPOS THU
UNI
4,678,000

6
FUEGO EN LA SANGRE THU
UNI
4,345,000

7
GREY’S ANATOMY-THU 9PM
ABC
3,490,000

8
ROSA DE GUADALUPE THU
UNI
3,430,000

9
SMARTER THAN 5TH GRADER
FOX
3,378,000

10
NFL ON FOX PRESEASON 1(S)-08/14/2008
FOX
3,163,000

Source: The Nielsen Company (August 14, 2008)

Overall, NBC won the night with an average audience of just over 29.7 million viewers, while CBS took second place with 5.8 million average viewers.  Univision …

A handful of multinational companies are competing for the rights to put their corporate name on Beijing’s iconic “Bird’s Nest” National Stadium following the Olympics, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday.
The move comes with some risk, the Journal noted, citing a Starbucks in Beijing’s Forbidden City that was forced to close after Chinese bloggers argued it was inappropriate to put the cafe inside a national treasure.
But National Stadium Co., which manages the “Bird’s Nest,” has already considered that.  The company told the Journal that a recent survey conducted by Nielsen found …

Heading into Thursday night’s women’s gymnastics individual all-around finals, American gymnast Shawn Johnson leads her top competitors in online buzz, according to Nielsen Online.
Fan buzz between July 28 and August 13 overwhelmingly focused on Johnson, who was more than twice as likely to be discussed by bloggers than her teammate Nastia Liukin. 
Liukin was ranked second on Nielsen’s list of the seven most buzzworthy gymnasts competing in the individual finals.  China’s Jiang Yuyuan rounded out the top three.

ATHLETE
COUNTRY
INDEX

Shawn Johnson
U.S.
100

Nastia Liukin
U.S.
43

Jiang Yuyuan
China
16

Anna Pavlova
Russia
11

Yang Yilin
China
11

Steliana Nistor
Romania
8

Ksenia Semenova
Russia
3

Source: The Nielsen Company (July 28, 2008 …

Despite losing to Cuba in a closely contested game Wednesday evening, the Chinese women’s volleyball team claimed the top TV rating of all Olympics events broadcast on Chinese television on Wednesday, August 13, AGB Nielsen Media Research reported Thursday.
In China, 143 million viewers watched the China vs. Cuba game on CCTV 1 Wednesday evening, according to AGB Nielsen.  In comparison, 84 million Chinese tuned in for the men’s weightlifting 77kg final that aired on CCTV 2 during the same time period.
In three games on August 9, 11, and 13, the Chinese …

Although it was a work day, online traffic to websites with Olympics-related content and video soared on Monday, August 11, according to Nielsen Online. 
Unique visitors to the video section of NBC’s Olympics site increased by nearly 140% – from 858,000 on Sunday, August 10, to 2,030,000 on Monday, August 11, Nielsen reported.
Meanwhile, traffic to Yahoo’s Olympics section grew 85% on Monday, compared to daily web traffic the prior day.

Rank:
U.A., Aug. 11
Website
Unique Audience:
Aug. 8
(in 000’s)
Unique Audience:
Aug. 9
(in 000’s)
Unique Audience:
Aug. 10
(in 000’s)
Unique Audience:
Aug. 11
(in 000’s)

1
Yahoo Olympics
1,477
3,324
2,839
5,253

2
NBC Olympics
2,664
4,008
3,264
4,560

3
AOL Olympics
395
1,010
1,205
1,192

4
Sports Illustrated Olympics
293
331
667
646

5
Beijing2008.cn
429
780
581
607

6
New York Times Olympics
341
466
301
482

7
ESPN Olympics
273
343
579
368

8
Fox Sports on MSN Olympics
49
95
259
182

9
USA Today Olympics
280
184
231
163

10
CBS …

American swimmer Michael Phelps’ quest for a gold medal record has captivated fans — and bloggers.
During the first week of the Olymipcs, Phelps was the most buzzed-about athlete, according to Nielsen Online, which analyzed online discussion of more than 50 high profile athletes competing in basketball, gymnastics, beach volleyball, and swimming events.
Basketball players Yao Ming, Kobe Bryant, and LeBron James, as well as American swimmer Dara Torres rounded out the top five in Nielsen’s ranking of the most buzzworthy Olympic athletes. 
Overall, swimmers and basketball players received the lion’s share of …

The official work week has begun, but people in China are still finding time to tune into Olympics broadcasts on TV.   On Monday, August 11, the third day of the Beijing Olympics, 84% of Chinese families tuned in to at least some Olympic programming, according to AGB Nielsen Media Research. 
The top-ranked Chinese Women’s Volleyball team’s match against Poland drew the largest TV audience on Monday.  More than 148 million Chinese tuned in for the final, which drew an average audience of over 54 million viewers, according to AGB Nielsen.
In all, …