According to preliminary results from The Nielsen Company, CBS’s broadcast of Super Bowl XLIV attracted an average audience of 106.5 million U.S. viewers.

Americans are watching network TV content online mostly to catch up with programming, not as a replacement for standard TV viewing.

“The early buzz data makes one thing clear — controversy drives conversation,” said Pete Blackshaw, executive vice president of digital strategy at The Nielsen Company.

For years, retailers, manufacturers and marketers have been clamoring for a single benchmark that would facilitate comparisons of healthy eating patterns by key regions and time periods.

A majority of households will be watching Super Bowl XLIV at home or at a friend or relative’s house instead of watching from a restaurant or bar.

Nielsen’s regional experts share insights on confidence, media trends, and what next for the increasingly diverse, demanding, and connected global consumer.

Consumers in the U.S. might be trimming the fat from their budgets and diets, but contrary to predictions, they continue to demonstrate a healthy appetite for foods featuring health and wellness claims.

Thirty-nine percent of Facebook users in the U.S., U.K. and Australia have already donated to the Haitian earthquake relief efforts. Another 21 percent still plan to do so, according to a joint survey conducted by Facebook and Nielsen.

As sites like Twitter and Facebook continue to grow, global consumers spent more than five and half hours on social networking sites in December 2009.

The majority of Super Bowl viewers enjoy the game’s ads more than the action on the field, according to results of a recent survey by The Nielsen Company.