We j
ust wrapped up the Q3 wave of the quarterly Top Ten List report. What we like best about the report is its overall simplicity in providing a pulse of what's top of mind right now. The categories covered in the wave included favorite TV shows, magazines, musical artists, movies and DVDs, celebrities, video and computer games, web sites, Olympic athletes and retailers. Starting with the guys, their favorite TV show of the moment is HBO's "Entourage." This marks the first time a premium channel secured the top position. Twenty-six percent of male respondents said Entourage was one of their three favorite TV shows compared to 16% in the Q2 wave and 9% in the Q1 wave. Needless to say, it's a pretty sweet growth trajectory for the HBO series since the start of the year and definitely bodes well for the remainder of the year as the new season gets underway. Following "Entourage" was "The Office" at 23%, up a point from the Q2 wave and two points from the Q1 wave. Coming in third was "Family Guy" at 21% down from 27% from the Q2 wave. The Q3 wave represents the first time in a year and half when "Family Guy" wasn't the number one TV show. Rounding out the top five was "SportsCenter" at 19% and "Lost" at 18%.
For the third straight wave, ESPN The Magazine secured the top spot ahead of Sports Illustrated and an increasingly weakening Maxim magazine. Rap star Lil' Wayne overtook former number one Kanye West as the top musical act among males while the Dave Matthews Band posted their strongest performance in two years landing in the second spot. No surprise on the movie and DVD list with "The Dark Knight" capturing a 33% share well ahead of all other titles. In the celebrity category it continues to be a game of flip flop between Jennifer Aniston and Jessica Alba for top billing since the start of the year. This wave, Jennifer Aniston got the edge coming in 1 point higher than Jessica Alba to secure the top spot.
A bit of a surprise in the video game list with the latest iteration of Madden (09) jumping ahead of GTA IV for the top spot. Do I even have to tell you the number one Internet destination of the moment among males? Didn't think so. With a seasonal focus we asked respondents to tell us their three favorite Olympic athletes. By a considerable margin, the top choice among males was Michael Phelps followed by beach volleyball gold medalist Misty May-Treanor and gymnast Natasia Luikin.
Moving on to the female findings. For the seventh straight wave, ABC's "Grey's Anatomy" was the number one TV show although "Gossip Girl" and "The Hills" are quickly gaining ground landing the second and third spots, respectively. Acoustic rocker Jason Mraz landed in the top spot in the musical artist list for the first time ahead of mainstays like Jack Johnson and Justin Timberlake. Mild surprise in the movie and DVD category...we thought "Sex & The City" would have some staying power but it actually slipped into the second spot behind "The Dark Knight." This is only the second time in two years where the top movie choice was consistent among both males and females. I guess the baby pictures pictures were a hit for Angelina as she vaulted back into the top spot for the first time in a year and half ahead of Jennifer and Reese. The number one video game among female respondents was Mario Kart which edged out the bundled Wii Sports title.
Suffice to say that women's gymnastics was the top draw at the Beijing Games with Nastia Liukin edging out Michael Phleps as their favorite Olympic athlete. Shawn Johnson came in third position and Misty's partner Kerri Walsh came in fourth. Forever 21 increased its lead over Target as the number one retailer among female respondents while both H&M and Nordstrom continued to move up the list.
The fourth and final wave of year will be fielded the first week of December. We'll post highlights as well as another year-end wrap up sometime in mid-December to go along with highlights from our third annual Trends and Predictions report for 2009.