This year, U.S. consumers are expected to spend more than $98 billion during the November-December holiday retail season, Nielsen reported Thursday.
Nielsen’s holiday retail forecast predicts a 4.7% gain in dollar sales over 2007.  Unit sales, however, are expected to be virtually flat (-0.8%) versus a year ago.
The forecast includes projected sales at food stores, drug stores, mass merchandisers, and convenience stores, across 125 product categories tracked by Nielsen.
With the economy in turmoil, the 2008 holiday season will be closely watched for indications of declining consumer spending.  Declines in consumer spending were …

Google and Yahoo! were again the number one- and number two-ranked Web brands in August, according to Nielsen Online.

Rank
Web Brand
Unique Audience
(in 000s)
Time Per Person
(hh:mm:ss)

1
Google
123,690
1:25:18

2
Yahoo!
117,702
3:22:31

3
MSN/Windows Live
103,953
2:21:25

4
Microsoft
93,558
12:38:39

5
AOL Media Network
93,070
3:33:46

6
YouTube
75,442
1:01:01

7
Fox Interactive Media
70,696
1:54:24

8
eBay
55,842
1:52:01

9
Wikipedia
52,987
0:21:24

10
Apple
48,766
1:10:42

Source: The Nielsen Company (August 1, 2008 – August 31, 2008).

Will the presidential elections impact Hollywood? 
If history is any guide, Democratic presidents are associated with larger box office sales growth.  From 1980 to 2007, box office sales grew by 2.8%, on average, during Democratic administrations, while average sales growth under Republican administrations was just 1%, according to research released Monday by Nielsen PreView.
Overall, in the past three decades, movie sales have grown almost three times faster during Democratic administrations than during GOP administrations, according to Nielsen.

52.7 million viewers tuned in for President Bush’s speech on the U.S. economic crisis, which aired live Wednesday night from approximately 9:00pm to 9:15pm EST on ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, Telemundo, Univision, CNBC, CNN, FOX News Channel, and MSNBC.

 
Rating
Average Audience
Number

All Households
 33.2
 38,031,000

Persons 2+
 18.2
 52,653,000

Source: The Nielsen Company (September 24, 2008)

Note: Sum of audience estimates for ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, Telemundo, Univision, CNBC, CNN, FOX News Channel, and MSNBC.

Google (60% search share) and Yahoo! (18.1% search share) were the number one- and number two-ranked online search providers in the U.S. for August, according to Nielsen Online.
AT&T Worldnet Search (+203.8%) and Comcast Search (+30.9%) showed the largest year-over-year growth for the time period.

Provider
Searches
(in 000’s)
Year-Over-Year
Growth
Share
of Searches

All Search Providers
7,222,826
-7.7%
100.0%

Google Search
4,331,153
3.1%
60.0%

Yahoo! Search
1,304,889
-16.5%
18.1%

MSN/Windows Live Search
770,592
-23.8%
10.7%

AOL Search
376,331
-13.5%
5.2%

Ask.com Search
143,231
4.7%
2.0%

Comcast Search
45,438
30.9%
0.6%

My Web Search
38,550
-46.3%
0.5%

AT&T Worldnet Search
30,272
203.8%
0.4%

NexTag Search
17,901
-20.6%
0.2%

Dogpile.com Search
15,418
-27.8%
0.2%

Source: The Nielsen Company (August 1, 2008 - August 31, 2008)

It’s one of the few points not up for debate this election season: TV coverage of the typically uneventful U.S. political conventions drew record-breaking audiences. 
Nearly two-thirds of all U.S. households (64.5%) — 120.1 million people age two or older — watched at least one of the 2008 political conventions, according to a new analysis released Thursday by Nielsen. 
Viewership levels for the Democratic and Republican conventions were essentially even, with about half of all U.S. households watching each.  Overall, 15% of all homes tuned in to the Republican National Convention only, while 15.7% …

With food and gasoline costs surging, household budgets worldwide are feeling the pinch.  But how people feel about the economy — and how they are coping financially — varies by country and region, The Economist recently reported.
Consumers in the Asia-Pacific region, for example, are more inclined to save than to splurge if they have spare money, while Russian consumers pump their extra cash into expanding their wardrobe, according to Nielsen.
Meanwhile, people in Nordic countries continue to spend money on travel and vacations, while Brazilians are happy to stay home.
Discretionary income …

YEAR
NETWORKS
TOTAL RATING
TOTAL HOMES

2004
Total- ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, MSNBC, FOXNC
15.3*
16,809,000*

2000
Total- ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, MSNBC, FOXNC
13.9**
14,042,000**

1996
Total– ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, PBS
16.5***
15,756,000***

1992
Total– ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, PBS
20.5
20,000,000

1988
Total– ABC, CBS, NBC
18.3
16,200,000

1984
Total– ABC, CBS, NBC
19.2
16,200,000

1980
Total– ABC, CBS, NBC
21.6
16,500,000

1976
Total– ABC, CBS, NBC
31.5
21,900,000

1972
Total– ABC, CBS, NBC
23.4
14,400,000

1968
Total– ABC, CBS, NBC
26.4
15,000,000

1964
Total– ABC, CBS, NBC
21.8
11,130,000

1960
Total– ABC, CBS, NBC
28
12,596,000

Source: The Nielsen Company (1960 – 2004)

Presidential nominating conventions are held in July and August with the party holding the Presidency scheduling its convention last. Changes in the parties’ primary system have impacted the conventions in recent campaigns.

*2004 data based on the …

YEAR
NETWORKS
TOTAL RATING
TOTAL HOMES

2004
Total- ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, MSNBC, FOXNC
14.3*
15,537,000*

2000
Total- ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, MSNBC, FOXNC
15.3**
15,380,000**

1996
Total– ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, PBS
17.2
16,418,000

1992
Total– ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, PBS
22
20,500,000

1988
Total– ABC, CBS, NBC
19.8
17,400,000

1984
Total– ABC, CBS, NBC
23.4
19,500,000

1980
Total– ABC, CBS, NBC
27
20,700,000

1976
Total– ABC, CBS, NBC
25.2
17,400,000

1972
Total– ABC, CBS, NBC
18.3
11,400,000

1968
Total– ABC, CBS, NBC
28.5
16,200,000

1964
Total– ABC, CBS, NBC
28.8
14,695,000

1960
Total– ABC, CBS, NBC
29.2
13,216,000

Source: The Nielsen Company (1960 – 2004)

Presidential nominating conventions are held in July and August with the party holding the Presidency scheduling its convention last. Changes in the parties’ primary system have impacted the conventions in recent campaigns.

*2004 data based on the …

Google (60.2% search share) and Yahoo! (17.4% search share) were the number one- and number two-ranked online search providers in the U.S. for July, according to Nielsen Online. 
AT&T Worldnet Search showed the largest year-over-year growth (+210%) for that time period. 

Provider
Searches
(in 000’s)
Year-Over-Year
Growth
Share
of Searches

All Search
7,996,956
3%
100.0%

Google Search
4,812,974
16%
60.2%

Yahoo! Search
1,393,723
-11%
17.4%

MSN/Windows Live Search
951,882
-10%
11.9%

AOL Search
369,611
-9%
4.6%

Ask.com Search
162,337
13%
2.0%

Comcast Search
45,511
22%
0.6%

My Web Search
43,085
-38%
0.5%

AT&T Worldnet Search
33,128
210%
0.4%

NexTag Search
21,218
5%
0.3%

Dogpile.com Search
17,270
-33%
0.2%

Source: The Nielsen Company (July 1, 2008 – July 31, 2008)

Search providers are ranked by the total number of search queries conducted at the provider.
Read coverage of Nielsen’s findings on CNET, Silicon Alley Insider, and in Mediaweek.