About 64 million people – or about a third of all U.S. Internet users – visited a World Cup-related website such as ESPN.com, Univision.com, FIFA.com, or Yahoo! Sports.

While national TV advertising as a whole grew at a slower rate last year than in the past, Spanish-language TV advertising posted a 3 percent gain in 2008, with growth in every major product category other than those related to the automotive sector. Satellite communication services showed the most growth – up 124 percent in 2008 — followed by car insurance and pharmaceuticals.  Overall, the top 10 categories recorded growth of 8 percent over the prior year, reaching $2.9 billion in 2008.

The dollar shift accompanies a rise in audience size …

CBS’s “Criminal Minds” and “CSI: NY” were the number one- and two-ranked primetime telecasts on broadcast TV for Wednesday, November 26, 2008.
ABC’s “Barbara Walters Special” rounded out the top three.

Rank
Program
Network
Viewers (P2+)

1
CRIMINAL MINDS
CBS
14,108,000

2
CSI: NY
CBS
12,304,000

3
BARBARA WALTERS SP-11/26(S)-11/26/2008
ABC
11,612,000

4
BONES
FOX
9,867,000

5
GARY UNMARRIED
CBS
7,631,000

6
OLD CHRISTINE
CBS
7,483,000

7
PRIVATE PRACTICE
ABC
6,334,000

8
LAW AND ORDER
NBC
6,330,000

9
DEAL OR NO DEAL-WED
NBC
6,319,000

10
FUEGO EN LA SANGRE WED
UNI
5,506,000

Source: The Nielsen Company (November 25, 2008).

Overall, CBS won the night with an average audience of just over 11.3 million viewers, while ABC took second place with just over 7.4 million average viewers. FOX and NBC claimed third and fourth places with roughly 7.3 …

ABC’s “Dancing With The Stars” was the number one-ranked primetime telecast on broadcast TV for Tuesday, November 25, 2008 with approximately 20.6 million average viewers.
CBS’s “NCIS” and “The Mentalist” rounded out the top three with approximately 18.1 and 15.9 million average viewers respectively.

Rank
Program
Network
Viewers (P2+)

1
DANCING W/STARS RESULTS
ABC
20,647,000

2
NCIS
CBS
18,118,000

3
MENTALIST, THE
CBS
15,925,000

4
HOUSE
FOX
12,877,000

5
CHARLIE BROWN THANKSGVING(S)-11/25/2008
ABC
11,085,000

6
WITHOUT A TRACE
CBS
10,416,000

7
LAW AND ORDER:SVU
NBC
8,589,000

8
FRINGE
FOX
7,704,000

9
BIGGEST LOSER 6
NBC
6,875,000

10
FUEGO EN LA SANGRE TUE
UNI
5,335,000

Source: The Nielsen Company (November 25, 2008).

Overall, ABC won the night with an average audience of almost 17.5 million viewers, while CBS took second place with just over 14.8 million average viewers. …

Rank
Program
Network
Viewers (P2+)

1
60 MINUTES
CBS
18,471,000

2
CSI
CBS
18,175,000

3
NBC SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL
NBC
17,564,000

4
DANCING WITH THE STARS
ABC
17,089,000

5
DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES
ABC
15,854,000

6
DANCING W/STARS RESULT SP(S)
ABC
15,848,000

7
GREY’S ANATOMY-THU 9PM
ABC
15,740,000

8
SNL PRESIDENTIAL BASH ‘08(S)
NBC
14,436,000

9
CRIMINAL MINDS
CBS
14,304,000

10
VOTE 2008-9:00PM(S)
ABC
14,185,000

Source: The Nielsen Company (November 3 – 9, 2008).

CBS’s “Numbers,” “NCIS,” and “Ghost Whisperer” claimed the top three spots in Nielsen’s ranking of the top primetime telecasts on broadcast TV for Friday, November 7, 2008.
ABC’s “20/20″ and FOX’s “Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader?” rounded out the top five.

Rank
Program
Network
Viewers (P2+)

1
NUMB3RS
CBS
11,275,000

2
NCIS FRIDAY 9PM-SPECIAL(S)-11/07/2008
CBS
11,216,000

3
GHOST WHISPERER
CBS
10,888,000

4
20/20-FRI
ABC
8,235,000

5
SMARTER THAN 5TH GRADER
FOX
6,458,000

6
DEAL OR NO DEAL-FRI
NBC
5,520,000

7
SUPERNANNY
ABC
5,401,000

8
DON’T FORGET THE LYRICS
FOX
4,979,000

9
FUEGO EN LA SANGRE FRI
UNI
4,896,000

10
WIFE SWAP
ABC
4,587,000

Source: The Nielsen Company (November 7, 2008).

Overall, CBS won the night with an average audience of just over 11.1 million viewers, while ABC took second place with almost 6.1 million average …

CBS’s “CSI” and “Survivor: Gabon” were the number one- and number three-ranked primetime telecasts on broadcast TV for Thursday, November 6, 2008.
ABC’s “Grey’s Anatomy” was sandwiched in between the two, in second place.

Rank
Program
Network
Viewers (P2+)

1
CSI
CBS
18,175,000

2
GREY’S ANATOMY-THU 9PM
ABC
15,740,000

3
SURVIVOR: GABON
CBS
12,013,000

4
ELEVENTH HOUR
CBS
10,902,000

5
UGLY BETTY
ABC
8,917,000

6
LIFE ON MARS
ABC
8,711,000

7
E.R.
NBC
8,608,000

8
OFFICE
NBC
8,545,000

9
30 ROCK
NBC
8,069,000

10
MY NAME IS EARL
NBC
6,700,000

Source: The Nielsen Company (November 6, 2008).

Overall, CBS won the night with an average audience of just over 13.7 million viewers, while ABC took second place with almost 11.2 million average viewers. NBC and Univision claimed third and fourth places with roughly 7.7 million and 4.6 …

ABC’s “Dancing With The Stars” was the top-rated primetime telecast on broadcast TV for November 5, 2008.  The program drew just over 15.8 million average viewers Wednesday night.
CBS’s “Criminal Minds” and “CSI: NY” rounded out the top three, with 14.3 million and 11.8 million average viewers, respectively.

Rank
Program
Network
Viewers (P2+)

1
DANCING W/STARS RESULT SP(S)-11/05/2008
ABC
15,848,000

2
CRIMINAL MINDS
CBS
14,304,000

3
CSI: NY
CBS
11,801,000

4
BONES
FOX
10,172,000

5
PRIVATE PRACTICE
ABC
9,171,000

6
LAW AND ORDER
NBC
7,936,000

7
HOUSE-WED 9P
FOX
6,654,000

8
OLD CHRISTINE
CBS
6,497,000

9
GARY UNMARRIED
CBS
6,326,000

10
DIRTY SEXY MONEY
ABC
6,151,000

Source: The Nielsen Company (November 5, 2008).

Overall, CBS won the night with an average audience of just over 10.8 million viewers, while ABC took second place with almost 10.5 million …

ABC’s 9pm to 11pm coverage of the U.S. presidential election results was the top-rated primetime telecast on Election Night, Tuesday, November 4, 2008.
NBC’s 8pm to 11:30pm coverage of the voting results claimed second place, and ABC’s 8pm to 9pm Election Night coverage rounded out the top three.
Election returns coverage on CBS, FOX, and Univision dominated the rest of the top ten.

Rank
Program
Network
Viewers (P2+)

1
VOTE 2008-9:00PM(S)-11/04/2008
ABC
14,185,000

2
DECISION ‘08 PRIME(S)-11/04/2008
NBC
12,462,000

3
VOTE 2008-8:00PM(S)-11/04/2008
ABC
11,206,000

4
CAMPAIGN 2008 ELECT 3(S)-11/04/2008
CBS
7,410,000

5
YOU DECIDE 2008(S)-11/04/2008
FOX
4,733,000

6
DESTINO 2008 7 11/4(S)-11/04/2008
UNI
4,535,000

7
DESTINO 2008 8 11/4(S)-11/04/2008
UNI
4,474,000

8
DESTINO 2008 6 11/4(S)-11/04/2008
UNI
4,365,000

9
DESTINO 2008 5 11/4(S)-11/04/2008
UNI
3,669,000

10
DESTINO 2008 4 11/4(S)-11/04/2008
UNI
3,505,000

Source: The Nielsen Company (November …

Rank
Program
Network
Viewers (P2+)

1
FOX WRLD SERIES GM5 CONCL(S)
FOX
19,844,000

2
CSI
CBS
19,098,000

3
DANCING WITH THE STARS
ABC
18,876,000

4
DANCING W/STARS RESULTS
ABC
17,445,000

5
NCIS
CBS
17,258,000

6
NBC SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL
NBC
16,741,000

7
MENTALIST, THE
CBS
16,073,000

8
DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES
ABC
15,933,000

9
GREY’S ANATOMY-THU 9PM
ABC
15,319,000

10
60 MINUTES
CBS
14,322,000

Source: The Nielsen Company (October 27, 2008 – November 2, 2008).