Ads for charitable causes also made their mark on TV viewers in Q3. Overall, MasterCard’s Stand Up to Cancer ads, featuring Ray Romano, took the top spot. The Yoplait “Save Lids to Save Lives” commercial also popped out as a well-liked ad overall.

Scripted Shows for Teens, Realities for Older Females
Teen and Millennial viewers in particular dedicated over a third of their primetime scripted TV viewing to series depicting at least one regular or recurring LGBT character.* Females 50 and older were attracted to realities featuring LGBT cast-members, hosts, judges and/or competitors, dedicating a significant share of their reality TV time to these programs.* Overall, one in four scripted series and one in five reality shows were LGBT-inclusive.

“The inclusion of LGBT characters on TV more accurately portrays the diverse and multicultural society we live in by encompassing all segments of the population,” said Matt O’Grady, EVP, Audience Measurement, Nielsen.

LGBT-Inclusive Shows Attract Dynamic Audiences
Audiences for LGBT-inclusive shows were as diverse as the programs themselves, though certain demographics appear to have been more exposed to LGBT images. Within the 25-49 age demographic, LGBT-inclusive programs (and its advertisers) were most likely to reach:

• College-educated white females
• Small white collar households
• Budding families (those with 3 or fewer members)

Non-white, professional Millennials without children also tended to watch LGBT-inclusive shows more frequently than primetime in general.

LGBT-Inclusive characters were incorporated into shows that skewed towards Eastern and Pacific viewers and were less watched by Midwesterners. This differential was most pronounced among 18-24 year olds in the Midwest, especially when compared to 18-24 year olds in other regions of the U.S.

Motion Pictures and Department Stores Drive Advertising
LGBT characters and plots were woven into some of the most popular broadcast primetime programs last season, and advertisers were investing their budgets there too. Motion pictures and department stores were the top categories that drove advertising on LGBT-inclusive programming, devoting 28.3 percent and 27.6 percent of their ad dollars, respectively.

Credit cards, telephone, and tech companies also spent a significant share of ad dollars with LGBT-friendly programs. Of the top 10 overall advertising categories, retail and pharmaceuticals dedicated less of their ad budgets to these shows than they did on the average for all categories.

*This list was determined by GLAAD in conjunction with their Where We Are On TV Report: 2010-2011 Season, and includes scripted programs such as Modern Family, Grey’s Anatomy, The Office, 90210, Glee and House, as well as reality shows such as Dancing with the Stars and Big Brother 12. GLAAD’s Where We Are on TV Report: 2011-2012 is now available at www.glaad.org.

In the study, Nielsen examined how exposure to Internet ad campaigns influenced brand measures such as ad recall and likeability, and whether the consumer said they were more likely to purchase the product after viewing the ad. The analysis showed that online ads do, on average, succeed in influencing brand engagement and opinion, particularly for ad recall and message association. However, the degree of positive brand impact largely depends on the strength of the ad itself.

The study then connected brand engagement results with actual offline sales measured by Nielsen. While based on a small number of cases to-date, the research showed that campaigns in which consumers reported an increase in purchase intent after viewing an online ad also showed a boost in offline product sales. Cases with flat purchase intent showed no significant change in sales.

Additionally, the research showed that the click-through rate for a given ad campaign showed no connection to sales lift and no measure of whether the message resonated with consumers.

• For more on these findings, download Beyond Clicks and Impressions: Examining the Relationship Between Online Advertising and Brand Building.

Key Takeaways:

• Television advertising surpassed $18 billion in the first quarter of 2011, growing almost nine percent versus the same period in 2010.
• On average, ads that aired during the Super Bowl were 58 percent more memorable than all commercials that aired during regular programming in the first quarter of 2011.
• Recommendations from personal acquaintances was cited as the most trusted form of advertisement by U.S. Internet consumers (76%). Forty-nine percent said they trusted consumer opinions posted online.
• Mobile advertising is increasingly finding its way into mobile apps, with teenagers being much more receptive than their elders. 58 percent of teens say they “always” or “sometimes” look at mobile ads.
• Across 12 broadcast and major cable networks in primetime, there were 5,381 major product placements in 2010, up 22 percent since 2006.
• Reality shows dominated broadcast and cable with the most placement occurrences in the first quarter of 2011, accounting for over half of all placements. While consumers can better remember the brands of placements during Sitcoms, placements in Reality programs are the most effective at positively impacting viewer opinion of the integrated brand.

For more charts and trends, download Trends in Advertising Spend and Effectiveness.

A Nielsen analysis of the top ads debuting in Q1 of this year revealed that, while Super Bowl ads were among some of the best liked commercials (four of the top five Most Liked ads appeared in the big game), several other creatives managed to break through the clutter as well.

In fact, overall, six out of 10 Most-Liked ads were not shown in the Super Bowl, including a 30-second spot from M&M, which ranked third on the list.

For the most memorable ads, the high profile platform provided by the Super Bowl seemed to have more of an impact. Seven of the top 10 ads with the strongest Brand Recall score came from the game. The top commercial featured a Western backdrop, where a cowboy demands Budweiser when he enters a saloon. Overall, the ads with the highest Brand Recall significantly outperformed the average commercial in the first quarter of 2011 – they were more than twice as memorable as other new creatives.

Two Super Bowl ads scored on both Brand Recall and Likeability: a Doritos ad where a man licks crumbs off his co-worker’s fingers (#2 Most-Liked, #3 Most-Recalled), and an NFL montage (#5 Most-Liked, #7 Most-Recalled) ranked in the top 10 on both lists.

In the U.S, Nielsen monitored national advertising during weekend ABC and ESPN matches, plus all Team USA matches from June 11-26, and found that official sponsors connected better with World Cup fans. Nielsen data showed that the five primary World Cup TV sponsors (Adidas, AT&T, Budweiser, Hyundai and Sony) generated 55% higher Net Likeability on average compared to commercials from other, non-sponsor World Cup advertisers. The sponsors also generated 16% higher Brand Recall on average for their World Cup in-game/in-studio elements, such as the Hyundai “Halftime Report” and the Adidas “First Half Highlights,” versus their typical in-game sponsorship performance in other sporting events.

“Nielsen data clearly shows an advantage for U.S. sponsors who have had an expanded presence in the matches with in-game or in-studio elements,” said Alan Gould, CEO of Nielsen IAG, which measures TV advertising effectiveness and program engagement. “The presence of these elements, which are integrated seamlessly into programming, is likely bolstering the effectiveness of these brands’ traditional TV commercials that air around the matches.”

In examining ad performance of new campaigns launched by World Cup sponsors and non-sponsors since the start of the tournament, Nielsen data also showed that ads from Budweiser, M&M’s, Macy’s, Sony and Hyundai scored highest in Net Likeability, with the greatest percentage of World Cup TV viewers recalling the commercial, the advertised brand, and reporting to like the ad “a lot” or “somewhat.”

Even World Cup fans are not immune to the gender divide as Nielsen ad effectiveness data shows that some World Cup ads seemed to be more engaging to certain genders in the U.S. While ads for Nike and Hyundai generated the high Net Likeability for female World Cup TV viewers, ads from Adidas and Cisco were hits with male audiences.

Both Sponsors and Non-sponsors Faring Well across the Pond
The World Cup, which proved to be a big draw for U.K. viewers, also provided an advertiser-friendly environment for sponsors and non-sponsors alike in the U.K. Nielsen IAG monitored advertising during World Cup programming on ITV1 in the U.K., including game, pre-game and post-game analysis from June 11-22, and found that, among new ad executions airing since the start of the tournament, ads for BT Telecommunications, Churchill Insurance, The Sun, Renault Automobiles and Carling all made the top 5 in Brand Recall. Among the top 5, only two – The Sun and Carling – are World Cup-themed.

A look at all World Cup-themed ads, including those that began airing during the run-up to the tournament, showed that England national team sponsor, Nationwide Building Society, topped the list in Brand Recall, followed by two ads from WeBuyAnyCar.com and the commercials from The Sun and Carling. The spot from Nationwide Building Society also ranked in the top 5 most liked ads, but it was a commercial for Magner’s Irish Cider that scored highest in Net Likeability, with a 22% higher than average number of viewers reporting that they recalled the ad, the advertised brand, and reporting to like the ad “a lot” or “somewhat.”

Official World Cup sponsor Visa, which decided to air World Cup TV ads outside the U.S. only, also saw a significant lift in Likeability within World Cup programming. Visa’s World Cup-themed credit card ad scored a 100% increase in Likeability when it aired during World Cup programming, versus airings for the same ad during non-sports programming. Nationwide Building Society received a nearly 80% lift in Brand Recall and a 95% increase in Likeability for its themed ad during World Cup programming versus when it aired in non-sports programming.

“While official sponsors are seeing their investments pay off as viewers are showing they’re receptive to the advertisements and that the messages are resonating well with the audience, there are clearly also significant opportunities for other advertisers to capitalize on the engaging environment that a major event such as the World Cup provides,” said Gould.

Top Ten Most Liked New Ads, May 10, 2010 to June 6, 2010
RANK	Brand	Description	Likeability Index
1	Target	Black smoke emerges from jungle; “Lost” theme; First Alert smoke detector	209
2	Aflac	Animated kids play roughly with toys; if you get hurt, you get paid cash fast; Toy Story 3	151
3	McDonald’s	Shrek Forever After Glasses–Donkey tells Shrek that outside forces are making him crazy	148
4	Ford	Fiesta–People with arrows highlight gas mileage; 40 more movies, concerts, ballgames	139
5	Walmart	Mom let me show you the coolest rollback in the store; what’s better than a dessert on rollback?	134
6	Johnsonville Sausage	Man wrestles with children at summer barbecue, then runs to grill and eats sausage	124
7	Chevrolet	Everyone deserves a car they can count on; images of cars in testing; Red X engineers obsessed with quality	122
8	Visa	Debit–Characters from Toy Story see Buzz in shopping basket and try to save him from getting bought	121
9	Hebrew National	Hot dogs made with 100% kosher beef; woman dressed as royalty renames them “Queen Elizabeefs”	120
10	Cadillac	CTS V–World’s fastest production sedan; 0-60 in 3.9 secs; car accelerates on street at night	114
Source: The Nielsen Company Only new ad executions considered, airing weeks of May 10 to June 6, 2010. The Likeability Score is the percentage of TV viewers who report to like “a lot” an ad they were exposed to during the normal course of viewing TV (among those recalling the brand of the ad). These scores are then indexed against the mean score for all new ads during the period (Likeability Index). 100 equals average. For example, with a Likeability index of 209 the top-ranked Target ad has proven to be 109% better-liked than the average new commercial during the past four-week period.

Top Ten Most Recalled New Ads, May 10, 2010 to June 6, 2010
RANK	Brand	Description	Likeability Index
1	Walmart	Watch Mr. Rollback drop the price of your summer cookout; Heinz ketchup, Sara Lee hot dog buns	241
2	Pantene	Stacy London announces the first reality hair star winner during “live” commercial	224
3	Target	Wild boar runs through jungle; “Lost” theme; Kraft Original Barbecue Sauce	210
4	Target	Black smoke emerges from jungle; “Lost” theme; First Alert smoke detector	209
5	Target	Man types numbers into computer; execute button doesn’t work; “Lost” theme	207
6	Subway	Man eating a burger falls through hammock; try a Fresh Fit meal	200
7	Verizon	Droid–Smart phone can see through walls, locate restaurants and shops though viewfinder	193
8	Domino’s	Workers try to get Bill Johnson to try their pizza; 2 medium, 2 topping pizzas for $5.99 each	187
9	Victoria’s Secret	Biofit 7-Way–One bra that you can wear seven ways; different strap arrangements shown	186
10	AT&T	Huge sheets of orange cloth cover buildings and landmarks across the country	182
Source: The Nielsen Company Only new ad executions considered, airing weeks of May 10 to June 6, 2010. The Recall Score is the percentage of TV viewers who can recall within 24 hours the brand of an ad they were exposed to during the normal course of viewing TV. These scores are then indexed against the mean score for all new ads during the period (Recall Index). 100 equals average. For example, with a recall index of 241 the top ranked Walmart ad has proven to be over 2.4 times as memorable as the average new commercial during the past four-week period.

The sector spent $84.7 million on African-American media during the year, and increase of 18% from the year before, cable TV showed significant growth – up 42% — while network TV dropped more than 70%.

Top 10 Media Types for Quick Service Restaurant Advertising

On the Wait Service side of dining, ad spend fell 4% in 2009 to $1.56 billion.  More than a quarter of that was spent on Network TV, followed by Spot and Cable TV.  “Local Newspapers” was the fourth largest category, with $124 million being spent, compared to just $14.8 million in that category for quick service restaurants.  For Wait Service Restaurants, all categories – except for cable TV – registered a decline in spending during the year.

Top Cities for Restaurants
Meanwhile, Nielsen Claritas released its annual Restaurant Growth Index (RGI) report, which found that the top city for dining out was Fort Walton Beach, Florida, which scored an RGI of 577, beating Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, which claimed the top spot for the past two years.  Despite leading the pack, Fort Walton Beach’s score was well below Myrtle Beach’s scores for the previous two years (735 and 632) reflecting the economic turmoil in 2009.  The average index score among markets in the top 10 was off 40 points from the previous year.  Nationally, restaurant sales fell more than $5 billion in 2009, which translates to both diminished sales per capita and per restaurant outlet.

The RGI tends to favor markets with significant number of out-of-town visitors, such as vacation destinations and college towns.  Springfield, Illinois may be the most surprising entrant to the list, but if one considers the fact that it is a state capital with a large number of state employees, legislators and lobbyists need somewhere to eat, its inclusion makes more sense.

“Obviously, the economy has had a significant effect on the restaurant industry as money-conscious consumers cooked dinner and ate at home more frequently.  But there were a number of markets that were bucking the trend with annual sales increases during the year, notably Barnstable Town on Cape Cod, which jumped into the number eight position, and Napa, California, which climbed 20 spots to number twelve after having fallen to 32^nd place last year,” said Matt Wolff, AVP, Retail Practice Manager at Nielsen Claritas.

Read the full article from Restaurant Business magazine.

An analysis of a single week of all direct response national TV advertising shows that 88% of all U.S. TV Homes (or 101 million homes) tuned to at least one national direct response ad — on average those homes saw 32 such ads during the week tracked. Over 15,500 DR commercials units aired across national TV for the week we reviewed.

“One factor that makes direct response so attractive to advertisers is the ability to get that direct, and almost immediate feedback of how well the ad performed,” said Kevin Svenningsen, SVP Media Tracking Services, The Nielsen Company. “When we overlay our media tracking services on top of that, we give advertisers verification that the campaign aired as planned as well as access to critical performance metrics.”

In the spirit of direct response: call Nielsen at: 1 800-864-1224 within 30 minutes of reading this article and we’ll explain how Nielsen tracks the impact of direct response advertising!!!

The overall outcome of 2009 advertising is the result of totally different behaviors within the regions. Asia Pacific inverted the downturn quite early in the year and, since quarter two, has been the only region to show growth compared to 2008 (+6.6%). Europe, which is still below the levels of the previous year (-4.9%), showed improvement in the second half of the year and moved to the positive side of the scale in the last quarter of the year. North America shows the largest percentage decline versus the previous year (-9.4%) and, though the percentage decrease is more contained in the last quarter, the level of expenditure has not matched that of 2008 yet.

The declines reported quarter after quarter however, were gradually more contained, with the second half of the year giving more significant signs of improvement and the last quarter of 2009 actually showed growth.

“Despite ad spend declining overall in 2009, the final part of the year showed growth – a good sign of things to come this year,” said Ben van der Werf, Managing Director of Nielsen Global AdView. “But, while the first half of 2009 compares to a fairly strong, pre-crisis beginning of 2008, the second half of the year compares to a weaker end of 2008, which may ‘inflate’ the growth. In addition, having to react to the loss of advertising revenue, many media owners started applying much more aggressive discount policies which may not always be reflected in the trends reported at rate-card prices. If it is true therefore that signs of recovery can be seen, there should be more care in evaluating the extent of such recovery.”

With this in mind, it is clear that the last six months of the year started to provide some relief to the industry, with Television benefiting the most. Radio managed to close the year with the same amount of ad revenue gathered in 2008. Print on the other hand had the worst of the four major media types, with Magazines taking the bigger hit. Though not included in the global trends, Internet was the only media type to see ad revenue growth in the majority of the countries where it is tracked, and was often the only one to register a positive trend when the more traditional media suffered declines.

Despite crisis, some sectors increased ad budgets
With the economic crisis impacting more or less all industries, the advertisers have been cutting ad budgets throughout the year, no matter which industry branch they belong to. Three of the eleven reported macro-sectors have however spent overall more than they did in 2008, while all others have been reducing their advertising spend. FMCG (+10.6%), Healthcare (+6.1%) and Distribution Channels (+4.2%) are the three larger contributors to the growth. Automotive (-15.1%), Clothing & Accessories (-11.6%) and Financial (-11.4%) are on the other hand showing the largest percentage decreases and report declines in all regions. Telecommunications showed growth in the North American region, but this is not sufficient to balance up the advertising cut backs in Asia Pacific and Europe. Durables and Entertainment are investing more than they did last year in Asia Pacific and cut their budget in Europe less than they did in North America.

Slight improvement in the fourth quarter
The last three months of the year did bring some relief. The advertising market closed with a 4.5 percent growth versus the same quarter 2008 and marks the only positive sign of the whole year. This path is common to the majority of the countries. However, some major markets like USA, Japan, Italy and Spain are still showing percentage declines, though more contained than in the previous three quarters. The global 4.5 percent growth is driven by Asia Pacific (+12.0%) and Europe (+2.6%), while the North American advertising spend is still below the levels of the last three months of 2008. All media types except for Magazines benefit from the growth and show positive trends compared to the last three months of 2008.