Nielsen

YouTube is teens' No. 1 pick for music listening

Gone are the days of teenagers buying albums and listening to them all the way through, as are the days of following beloved radio DJs and tuning in at the appropriate times. The new generation is opting for their own music curating by means of YouTube, according to a new study released today by consumer research firm Nielsen.

Although many people -- 48 percent -- still discover music through radio, the majority of teens -- 64 percent -- listen to tunes through YouTube. Nielsen's report, called Music 360, takes an in-depth look at how different age groups are buying … Read more

The 404 1,096: Where we try this again (podcast)

Leaked from today's 404 show:

- 'People' defend Chic-fil-A on Facebook.

- Chick-fil-A cashier fired for racist receipts.

- Old records outsell new ones for the first time.

- Circuit City's in-home TV calibration is a total scam.… Read more

Harsh: Windows Mobile still more popular than Windows Phone

The headline out of the latest smartphone market share numbers from Nielsen is that Android now operates 51 percent of smartphones in the U.S., but the punchline is that Windows Mobile still holds twice as much market share as its far more attractive successor, Windows Phone.

Ouch. That's the statistical equivalent of American consumers giving Steve Ballmer an atomic wedgie.

Windows Mobile, which used the Windows CE "Pocket PC" kernel, basically sought to jam the Windows desktop into a phone and never gained too much traction or acclaim. Yet somehow, following in the grand tradition of … Read more

Netflix movie streaming takes back stage to TV

Netflix users' taste for movies versus TV are changing. According to data released by Nielsen today, users who were most likely to stream movies dropped by 6 percent from last year, while those who preferred streaming TV rose by 8 percent.

Still, overall, the video streaming service's users like to watch movies -- 47 percent of users are currently most likely to stream movies while 19 percent will stream TV. The remaining users watch both movies and TV equally.

Netflix seems to be paying attention to these numbers as it launches its own original content TV shows. In February, … Read more

Smartphones knock feature phones out of the ballpark

Recently ditched your feature phone for a smartphone? You're not alone. Two out of three people in the U.S. who bought a new phone in the last three months opted for a smartphone, according to new data from research firm Nielsen.

During the second quarter of this year, "smartphone penetration continued to grow, with 54.9 percent of U.S. mobile subscribers owning smartphones as of June 2012," Nielsen wrote in a blog post today.

According to Nielsen, the smartphones of choice in the U.S. are Android, which has 51.8 percent of the country'… Read more

Online ad spending rises 12% in 1st quarter, Nielsen says

Worldwide spending on online advertising rose by 12.1 percent during the first quarter, reports Nielsen.

Across the board: television, newspapers, radio, outdoor, and Internet advertising all saw an increase in advertising spending, up from the same quarter last year. Magazines are the only media section to have suffered, falling into negative spending.

On the whole, ad spending grew by 3.1 percent globally, despite euro zone troubles and recession.

While television remains at the heart of the advertising industry, Internet advertising saw the highest overall increase.

Internet advertising spending saw growth in Europe at 12.1 percent amid … Read more

The 404 1,081: Where nobody's perfect (podcast)

Leaked from today's 404 episode:

-Facebook quietly adds creepy "Find Friends Nearby" feature.

-Apple no longer claims immunity from viruses on its Web store.

-New site "weknowhatyouredoing.com" tracks Twitter and posts incriminating patterns.

-Hot Toys' Joker action figure is serious...ly amazing.

-No one watches TV, Nielsen, and you know it.… Read more

How Facebook quickly took over the Web

Facebook is on its way to 1 billion users with an IPO around the corner. Not bad for a company with its roots in a Harvard dorm room.

But how did it achieve its grip on the global market? New findings from Nielsen offer a peek into some key milestones for the social network.

Facebook's user base currently numbers more than 900 million. But it's also one of the most visited Web sites in the world, according to Nielsen.

The site received around 152 million unique visits from people in the U.S. in March, which means that … Read more

Nielsen: 1 in 2 own a smartphone, average 41 apps

One out of every two mobile subscribers owns a smartphone of some kind, and those smartphone owners average 41 apps per device, according to the latest report from Nielsen.

If those numbers sound staggering to you, consider where the mobile phone customer landscape was just one year ago. Nielsen reports that back then, just 40 percent of mobile subscribers had smartphones and that apps per device were at 32.

The study, labeled the State of the Appnation, also found that Android and iOS users make up the bulk of smartphone owners, accounting for 88 percent of people that have downloaded … Read more