According to The Nielsen Sports Media Exposure Index, which measures media exposure on TV and online, the Cowboys were still the most popular NFL team in America last season. Jerry Jones’s franchise earned the top indexed score of 100, far surpassing the runner-up Pittsburgh Steelers who finished with an index of 81.

The Cowboys’ top ranking was boosted by first-place showings in two of the four categories tallied by Nielsen: gross audience during nationally televised games and monthly unique audience to the team web site. The other two categories – local team ratings and total buzz volume – were captured by the Saints and New York Giants, respectively.

Dallas has held the top two spots in each of the last two years. The Steelers moved up from third to second, swapping places with the Giants. The Minnesota Vikings, aided no doubt by the presence and performance of legendary QB Brett Favre,  climbed from 13th place in 2008 to a tie for 4th in the 2009 regular season ranking. The Washington Redskins, meanwhile, dropped from 5th in 2008 to 11th in 2009.

NFC teams dominated the 2009 rankings. Seven of the top 10 teams  represented the conference, while the Steelers, Colts (t-8th) and Patriots (10th) were the only three AFC teams to crack the top third of the list.

Among the two New York teams, the Giants had the most media exposure, ranking 15 spots ahead of the Jets. And even despite drawing 38% lower local market ratings than their Bay Area rivals, the Oakland Raiders were the most popular national brand out of Northern California, ranking two spots ahead of the San Francisco 49ers (25th vs. 27th).

The Nielsen Sports Media Exposure Index measured all 32 NFL teams in four categories during the 2009 regular season: local team ratings, gross national TV audience, online buzz volume, and monthly unique audiences to official team websites. Teams in each category were assigned a score, with the top rank worth 100 points and each subsequent ranking assigned a lower weighted score based its distance from the top. Final team rankings were calculated using the sum of scores across all four categories, and then indexed with the highest total equaling 100.

Nielsen’s NFL Media Exposure Index was recently featured in the Wall Street Journal.

• More than 120 million U.S. viewers watched at least one minute of World Cup telecasts.
• The average viewing audience was 65% male and 35% female.
• An estimated 17 million viewers watched the live final between Italy and France on Spanish and English language networks combined.
• The most watched game featuring the U.S. team was a preliminary round tilt vs. Italy. The game was seen by 9.8 million U.S. viewers.
• The 2006 tournament was the first to include Univision in the Nielsen national sample. The network’s 56 telecasts throughout the tournament averaged 2.3 million viewers, compared to 4.8 million on English language broadcast TV and 1.6 million on Cable TV.
• San Diego was the top local market for English language broadcasts; Miami-Ft. Lauderdale was the top market for Spanish language broadcasts. Los Angeles placed second in both categories.

When looking at World Cup coverage from as far back as 1994, Nielsen found that there is one important factor that drives U.S. TV ratings: time zones.

“With Japan and South Korea hosting the 2002 tournament, U.S. TV ratings suffered with most games airing in the early morning or in the middle of the night,” said Stephen Master, vice president of sports at The Nielsen Company. “This year’s tournament in Johannesburg will be played in the same time zone as those played in 1998 and 2006. In each of those years, U.S. TV ratings were much stronger overall.”

Download Nielsen’s World Cup U.S. TV Viewership fact sheet, with insights going back to 1994.

With Major League Baseball’s opening day fast approaching, big league teams are looking to surpass last-season’s finish and to collect more eyeballs for their advertisers and corporate sponsors.  A look back at the stats from locally and nationally televised games from the 2008 season reveals impressive numbers and teams will hope to carry that momentum throughout the 2009 season… and perhaps the playoffs.

Regional Ratings:

Locally, Boston continued to show the power of Red Sox Nation, with a 10.1 HH AA% on NESN (New England Sports Network), the highest average local rating on a regional sports network of any MLB team.   Additionally, the national pastime continues to be as strong as ever in America’s Heartland with the St. Louis Cardinals (7.9), Minnesota Twins (7.2), Milwaukee Brewers (7.0), and Cincinnati Reds (6.8) following as the next highest rated markets.

Several teams also boasted significant increases in ratings on their regional network. Most notably, the Tampa Bay Rays, whose incredible worst-to-first turnaround contributed to an impressive 94% jump over last season’s ratings on FOX Sports Florida.  Other notable increases were the Chicago White Sox (69%), the Cincinnati Reds (39%), and Colorado Rockies (34%).

National Broadcasts

FOX’s Saturday Baseball averaged 2.9 million viewers, with a high mark coming on July 5th when 4.5 million tuned in for Yankees vs. Red Sox or Cubs vs. Cards.  ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball also owed its high point to the Yankees and Red Sox (July 27^th -4.2 million). For the year, Sunday Night Baseball continued to be a staple of primetime cable programming with an average of 2.5 million viewers.

Post-Season

A thrilling post-season was highlighted by the most-watched cable baseball game ever: the Red Sox-Rays ALCS Game 7, with 13.4 million viewers on TBS.  The Rays’ storybook run, however, came to an end at the hands of the Philadelphia Phillies in a rain-soaked World Series which averaged an 8.4 HH rating and 13.6 million viewers.