According to data from Nielsen’s People Meter sample fused with the respondents of MRI’s Survey of the American Consumer, NASCAR race viewers in Q1′09 were more likely than the average consumer to drive American:

• Drivers of Chevrolet, sponsor of Tony Stewart and Hendrick Motorsports, had 70% higher ratings compared to the composite.
• Drivers of Ford, who sponsors one of NASCAR’s brightest stars in Carl Edwards, had 64% higher ratings.
• Drivers of Dodge, which is now partially owned by a Fiat, is still considered by many an American car, and had 59% higher ratings.

It should be no surprise that NASCAR’s racing teams work closely with the automakers not just under the hood, but also on ways to increase sponsorship visibility - including car signage, uniform apparel, and training the drivers to weave in audio mentions to their interviews – all in hopes of moving the needle when their fans head out to their local car dealership.

As the Big Three American automakers attempt to change public perception and get their cars back on the right track, NASCAR may be the best sponsorship vehicle.

Some insights on the Insight

The 2010 Honda Insight is having a tough time breaking out of the Prius’ shadow as the majority of consumers often compare the two vehicles. However, keep in mind that the Honda Insight just came on the market in March 2009 while the Toyota Prius has been around for roughly 10 years. Buzz generated by the Insight’s release in March was no comparison to the attention it gained at the Paris & Detroit Auto Shows.

Shoppers, Buyers and Rejecters are turning to Twitter to tweet about their intentions and experiences. Thus far, the 2010 Honda Insight is outpacing both the 2010 Prius and 2010 Ford Fusion on Twitter.

Which hybrid has the most “positive” charge?

2010 Honda Insight online discussion is driven primarily by comparisons to the Toyota Prius. Price is frequently referenced as the Insight’s selling point; however, some do not feel that the difference in price makes up for the Insight’s lower MPG rate (compared to the 2010 Prius) or perceived lack of features. When diving into the topics surrounding the conversations around the Insight and Prius to gauge sentiment, the Insight created a more polarized view.

If consumers regularly evaluate the Insight as a potential “Prius Killer,” the Insight may fail to emerge with a unique reputation, divorced from the Prius. The perception that the design of the Insight is too similar to that of the Prius highlights the belief that the Prius is the gold standard to which all other hybrids must aspire. Insight and future hybrid cars will have to keep an eye not only on the road, but also the web to help shape the conversations of the new breed of hybrid shopper.

The automaker took home the prize for Most Effective Auto Ad of the Year for its spot featuring several real-life women test-driving a Ford Focus for the first time. Other winners included Lexus for Most Effective Green Ad of the Year and Volkswagen for Most Effective Sales Event Campaign of the Year.

Winning ads were determined by results from Nielsen IAG’s 2.5+ million viewer panel measuring the recall and likeability of the ads.

In the past year, Nissan N.A. and Ford Motor Co. Web sites are showing signs of increased consumer interest as evidenced by comparing the unique visitors from January 2008 to January 2009. In terms of year-over-year growth in site visitors, Nissan N.A. saw an increase of 14% while Ford Motor Co. showed a 9% increase. Chrysler LLC experienced the steepest decline in site traffic at 26% followed by General Motors (-17%), Toyota Motor Sales (-11%) and Honda Motor Co. (-5%).

In January 2008, visitors to Chrysler LLC sites also visited or overlapped with General Motors sites (24%) followed by Ford Motor Co. (22%), Honda Motor Co. (15%), Toyota Motor Sales (14%) and Nissan N.A. (9%) sites. The overlap landscape has significantly changed for Chrysler in January 2009 as General Motors and Ford Motor Co. are the only automakers to be cross-shopped with 16% and 3% respectively. Further analysis of online discussion reveals that consumer confidence toward Chrysler’s products, leadership and future viability is decreasing, which poses a threat to potential sales.

Interestingly, Ford is showing signs of becoming a stronger competitor to Toyota, Nissan and Honda, while having less audience overlap with Chrysler and General Motors. In January 2008, roughly 15% of consumers that visited a Toyota Motor Sales site also went to a Ford Motor Co. site, while in January 2009 this rose to 20%. Nissan N.A. sites witnessed a similar overlap increase from 20% to 27% with Ford Motor Co.

Is this change in consumer behavior due to Ford’s improved products, a sign of consumer confidence that Ford refused to receive any government bailout money, or both? Online discussion is indicating that Ford’s strong leadership and refusal of bailout money is giving them the competitive advantage over Chrysler and General Motors. As the threat of bankruptcy grows stronger for General Motors and Chrysler, it is my hypothesis that Ford will continue to benefit from their decision to refuse government aid both in terms of site traffic as well as sentiment of online discussion.

Greenville, SC and Greensboro, NC maintained their spots as the top DMAs for this year’s race, scoring 21.2 and 19.9 ratings, respectively. Dayton, OH surged to the #3 spot with an 18.0 rating.

 2009 DAYTONA 500: TOP-10 LOCAL DMA RATINGS

At its peak (5:48pm ET), the race scored a 10.5 HH rating, with 18.1 million viewers tuning in. According to Repucom International, which provides exclusive integration of Nielsen data in measuring brand exposure in sports telecasts, those 18.1 million viewers were exposed to the following brands within the next 30 seconds: AAA, Red Bull, Red Bull Cola, Toyota, Sprint, Sunoco, 3M, Fedex, Goodyear, Taco Bell, EA Sports, Dodge, and Chevrolet.

As a sport tied so directly to sponsorships and the struggling auto industry, NASCAR offered a steady dose of positive exposure for American car companies. According to Repucom, Chevrolet and Ford had the most brand exposures during FOX’s telecast, combining for 419 exposures and a total of almost 30 minutes. AT&T had the third-most exposure time at almost 14 minutes. More extraordinary, those 14 minutes were an accumulation of just 36 exposures – meaning AT&T enjoyed an impressive average of 23 seconds per exposure.

2009 DAYTONA 500: TOP-10 BRAND EXPOSURES

The automotive industry has witnessed an extremely volatile and game-changing 2008. With Ford, BMW, Honda, Toyota and Volkswagen leading the way, here is a look at the top 25 automotive brands that consumers discussed online in 2008 relative to all online discussion.

In mid-November, following GM released its quarterly earnings report – which highlighted the gravity of the Big Three Automakers’ financial situation, and online consumers began comparing the potential auto bailout to the U.S. government’s bailout of the financial industry or the Chapter 11 benefits/consequences of the airline industry.

Around November 21, the first Congressional bailout hearings spurred consumers’ opinions across the Internet.  Many questioned how the domestic OEMs will be held accountable for using bailout funds.  Others heavily criticized the Big Three Auto CEOs for flying corporate jets to the hearings.

In non-bailout related blog discussions, online consumers expressed enthusiasm about potential future Toyota hybrid models, such as a sport coupe version of the Prius or a Lexus-only hybrid compact.

Online consumers were also abuzz during the L.A. Auto Show, with many expressing interest in alternative fuels and new versions of vehicles, such as the Ford Fusion and Mustang, Lexus RX, Mazda 3, Nissan 370Z, and Cube.

View the complete “Automotive Industry Overview” for November 2008.

Stay tuned on Nielsen Wire for monthly installments of Nielsen Online’s monthly “Automotive Industry Overview” of online, consumer-driven automotive discussions.

Likeability refers to the percentage of television viewers who report liking an ad “a lot” after viewing it, among those who are able to recall an ad’s brand.

A traditional ad’s “likeability score” is the percentage of television viewers who report liking an ad “a lot” (among those who can recall an ad’s brand) after being exposed to it during the normal course of viewing primetime TV on the broadcast networks.

Likeability scores are indexed against the mean score for all new traditional ads during the time period to calculate an ad’s “likeability index.”

A likeability index of 100 indicates average recall. A likeability index of 190, for example, means that an ad was 90% better liked than the average new ad during the four-week time period.

Read coverage of Nielsen’s findings in Ad Age.

Through July 2008, the Big Three American car manufacturers (GM, Ford, and Chrysler) all showed negative advertising growth over 2007, according to Nielsen Monitor-Plus. Ford and Chrysler each spent 22% less on advertising, while GM dropped its spending by 6%.

Compare that with the relative success of foreign automakers. Honda added the most spending in dollars over 2007 (an extra $71.5 million, or 13%), while Daimler (48%) and Volkswagen (23%) showed the most growth percentage-wise.

But not all foreign automakers saw the same success. Hyundai’s spending dropped by 17%, Nissan’s fell 15%, and Toyota’s numbers remained unchanged. The numbers reflect a 10% dip in ad spending across the entire auto industry through July.

So, for the money that has been spent, where has it gone? Of the total $6 billion spent on car and truck ads, more than $5 billion (83%) were placed in television, while $640 million (11%) were placed in magazines

There were some notable declines in media spending this year. Television is down $323.7 million (-6% compared to last year); budgets for magazines (national, local, and B-to-B) were cut $187.3 million (-23%); and newspapers (national, local, and supplements) dropped $58.8 million (-25%). These significant losses contributed to the overall loss of $640 million, bringing advertising for the automotive category down 11% for the first seven months of this year.

Cable television reported a 5% increase in total spend for the Jan-July time period with $881.9 million in total spend. Another bright star in automotive ad spend is Spanish-language cable television, gaining $1.8 million. Finally, spending in local magazines also climbed, showing the largest increase of 23%.

Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan’s October 28, 1980 debate claimed the largest television audience — 80.6 million viewers — since 1976, the first year that Nielsen collected TV viewership data for presidential debates. 

George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and Ross Perot’s October 15, 1992 debate (69.9 million viewers) and Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter’s September 23, 1976 debate (69.7 million viewers) round out the top three.

George H. W. Bush and Michael Dukakis’s 1988 debates and Ronald Reagan and Walter Mondale’s 1984 debates also made the top 10.

In terms of Nielsen household TV ratings, Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy’s presidential debates in 1960 dominate Nielsen’s top 10 ranking. 

The two candidates’ October 13, 1960 debate, which drew 61% of all U.S. television households, claimed the top household rating of any presidential debate. 

Nixon and Kennedy’s infamous September 26, 1960 debate — the first-ever televised presidential debate — ranked second, with 59.5% of all American TV households tuning in.   

Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan’s October 28, 1980 debate was the only non-Kennedy vs. Nixon debate to crack the top five. 

All three of Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter’s 1976 debates also ranked among the top 10 televised presidential debates, in terms of household ratings.

View complete Nielsen ratings for all televised U.S. presidential and vice presidential debates from 1960 to present.