Which Super Bowl XLVI team is winning the online competition? According to Nielsen and NM Incite, a Nielsen/McKinsey company, it might be a draw: the New England Patriots had more visitors on their team’s website, but the New York Giants have more buzz on social media.

While Super Bowl ads require a substantial investment, they get a measurable bump from their prominent placement. According to Nielsen, ads that aired during 2011’s Super Bowl XLV were, on average, 58 percent more memorable than commercials airing during regular programming in the first quarter of 2011.

According to Nielsen, Peyton Manning, Drew Brees and Donovan McNabb hold the highest N-Scores, a measure of marketability created in tandem with E-Poll, yet Michael Vick, Tom Brady, Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers garnered the most buzz online since last September.

Among NFL teams, the NY Jets generated the most online buzz during the off-season from blogs, message boards/groups, Twitter, Facebook, and online news posts.

With sold out ad inventory for this year’s Super Bowl and such a diverse and massive pack of consumers expected to tune in, which advertisers stand the best chance of capturing the audience and getting the greatest return on their investment?

Nielsen’s new N-Score rates the brand impact of professional athletes and sports personalities to enable advertisers to make strong marketing decisions on commercial endorsements.

According to The Nielsen Sports Media Exposure Index, the Cowboys were still the most popular NFL team in America last season.

Fourteen percent of home Super Bowl viewers with Internet access browsed the web at least once during the big game, up slightly from last year’s 12%.

Nielsen demographic data reveals that significant gains in minority viewership were contributing factors to Sunday’s record audience of 106.5 million Super Bowl viewers.

There was plenty of buzz about the commercials during Super Bowl XLIV, but many brands also received audience exposure during the game with in-stadium, scoreboard, or other brand placement.