But according to Nielsen, many of China’s advertisers took a break from advertising in August, sending overall ad spending in China tumbling to levels last seen in May 2008, when the Sichuan earthquake hit and advertising was suspended for three days.

Advertising spending in China grew, year over year, by just 7% in August, Nielsen reported Monday.  In comparison, China’s ad spending grew by an average of 19% in the seven months leading up to the Olympic Games.

In August, sponsor advertising grew by 40% — or RMB2.8 billion (US$370 million) in China, but that increase was not enough to compensate for the withdrawal of the rest of the market’s advertisers.

“This is quite unprecedented, based on our monitoring of advertising behavior and spending for previous Olympic Games.  Rather than attempt to battle it out with the Sponsors, other players opted simply to ’sit out’ the month of August,” Richard Basil-Jones, Managing Director, Media Asia Pacific, Nielsen, noted.  “With the London Games four years out, time will tell whether this was a situation unique to China, or whether in the future, other non-Sponsors will chose to sit on the side lines, leaving the Games open and clear for Sponsors to enjoy maximum cut through in an unusually uncluttered advertising environment.”

Despite the ongoing global financial turmoil, advertisers returned to China’s ad market after the Olympic Games.  In September, ad spending in China registered healthy, near pre-Games growth of 16%, according to Nielsen.

View the full press release.

Read coverage of Nielsen’s findings in the Financial Times.

Nielsen’s estimates are based on television audience data collected from 38 key markets throughout the world, including host nation China, the U.S., Brazil, South Africa, Italy, and Australia.

The Asia-Pacific region had the highest audience reach, with more than five in 10 people watching the opening ceremony.  Europe and North America followed with 30% and 24% reach, respectively.

Within Asia-Pacific, China had the highest percentage of people tuning into the opening ceremony.  South Korea (44% of people), Greece (43% of people), and Australia — all former Summer Olympics host nations — also had high viewership percentages. 

Viewing levels were also impressive in the U.S., where an estimated that 65 million people watched the opening ceremony.

View the full press release.

Read Bloomberg’s and China Daily’s coverage of Nielsen’s findings.