Consumers Slightly Less Confident in Q4 2014

NIELSEN NEWSWIRE Jan. 28, 2015 Global Consumer Confidence Closes 2014 with a Cautious Dip Global consumer confidence has been slowly increasing since the fourth quarter of 2012. However, 2014 ended with an index score of 96, a decline of two index points from the third quarter. Year-over-year, the score is two points higher than in the fourth quarter of 2013. And the index is still above a pre-recession level of 94 from third-quarter 2007. Read Full Article >   MEDIA AND ENTERTAINMENT Make the Most of Your Brand's 20-Second Window The idea that consumers "engage" with brands is no doubt true for a small set of consumers and a small set of high involvement categories and brands, but for the vast majority of brands, consumers are not engaged to or with brands. They're just buying them. Read more    MEDIA AND ENTERTAINMENT On My Block: From Checking the Weather to Streaming Content, Media Habits Vary by Local Markets We live in a day and age when a Los Angeleno can wake up and check the weather in Wales and a Clevelander can log on and instantly see the news in Costa Rica. But while connectivity has made the world smaller in a lot of ways, U.S. consumers still want to keep up with the happenings in their own neighborhood—and they're going digital to get that local experience! Read more   MEDIA AND ENTERTAINMENT Everyone Listens to Music, But How We Listen Is Changing Music consumption has changed, but consumers' appetite for music is as strong as ever. Ninety-three percent of the U.S. population listens to music, spending more than 25 hours each week jamming out to their favorite tunes. The difference from times past, however, is that the way we individually tune is as unique as the ear buds or headphones we sport while listening.Read more   CONSUMER Re-making India: Where Will Growth Come From in 2015? 2014 was certainly a challenging year for the economy as well as for businesses in India. But as we enter 2015, the prevailing economic sentiment is that of optimism. So what will determine the direction of the economic winds of change in 2015? Our year-end special 'Re-making India: Where Will Growth Come from in 2015?' looks at some of the important developments that took place in 2014 and attempts some crystal ball gazing into what the defining trends of 2015 are going to be like. Read more   BLOG Uncommon Sense: Searching for New Growth? Look to the Shelf We've just completed a year of transformation in the retail industry, and looking at 2015, it looks like change will remain constant. But change brings opportunity, even within the familiar. Where to begin? Look to the shelf. Read more   CONSUMER New Zealand Consumer Confidence—Steadfast Finish to 2014 New Zealand consumer confidence ended 2014 with an index score of 101—a decline of one index point from the previous quarter. Confidence is up slightly from a year ago where it indexed at 100. New Zealand is above Australia (93), U.K. (94) and the global average (96) but trails behind the U.S. (106).Read more   WEBINARS AND EVENTS UPCOMING EVENT | Advertising Research Foundation West ForumDates: Jan. 28 - 29, 2015 Location: The Bechtel Conference Center, San Francisco, CA Speaker: Scott McKinley, EVP, Innovation, Nielsen Nielsen is sponsoring and presenting at "ARF West—Maximizing the Mix: Performance Measurement in Today's Media Environment." This event will showcase best practices in terms of marketing performance measurement and will highlight the approaches used by leading organizations to measure their marketing ROI. Register now