Of the 144 brands that have advertised during the Super Bowl over the past five years, only a handful of companies have had a presence in every one. From 2007-2011, these seven have earn honorable mentions for being the most resilient Super Bowl advertisers—Budweiser, CareerBuilder, Coca-Cola, Doritos, E*Trade, GoDaddy.com, and the NFL—and five also hold the distinction of being among the ten best liked Super Bowl ads of the past five years.

Only ad executions during Super Bowl airings from 2007-2011 considered. The Likeability Score is the percentage of TV viewers who report to like “a lot” an ad they were exposed to during the normal course of viewing TV (among those recalling the brand of the ad). These scores are then indexed against the mean score for all new ads during the period (Likeability Index). 100 equals average.

For example, with a Likeability index of 179 the top ranked NFL ad has proven to be 79 percent better-liked than the average Super Bowl commercial during the past four-week period.

Source: Nielsen

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Patriots have more online visitors, but Giants fans run up web stats

During the run up to the playoffs in December 2011, the Patriots had 644,000 unique visitors to their official website, topping the Giants’ 574,000 visitors. However, Giants fans were more engaged when visiting their team’s website, viewing nearly twice as many pages (17 page views per person) compared to Patriots visitors, and spending over 10 minutes each on average.

Super Bowl buzz: Giants fans cheer more for team, Tom Brady is MVP of social media

Fans’ excitement throughout the playoffs carried over to social media. The Giants had more buzz about their team each week, with a 59 percent share of buzz compared to the Patriots’ 41 percent of buzz volume on blogs, message boards/forums, public posts on Twitter and Facebook and online news posts.  But Patriots’ quarterback Tom Brady surpassed Giants QB Eli Manning, with nearly double the amount of buzz.

And an oft-discussed quarterback can lead (or follow) his team to buzz dominance as well. Half of the top 10 quarterbacks by N-Score were on the top 10 teams with the most buzz; however, there are a number of players and teams where no connection appears. Tony Romo garnered slightly higher than the median quarterback buzz (1.8%) while the Dallas Cowboys were one of the most buzzed about teams with 5.8 percent of all online buzz mentions. Incidentally, the Cowboys also had the most unique visitors to their website on average.

High awareness of a player—as captured through the N-Score—can also be indicative of a player’s buzz. For players like the Eagles’ Michael Vick and the Steelers’ Ben Roethlisberger, their awareness and buzz are both high—yet their N-Score, which takes into account traits such as likeability, down-to-earth and talented—reflects negative public reaction to their activity off the field (13 and 16, respectively). Besides Matt Hasselbeck, all of the top 10 quarterbacks by N-Score received high online buzz.

Players with lesser awareness can also become buzz generators online. Alex Smith and Mark Sanchez, who were nationally known by just four and 16 percent of the population, respectively, had a tremendous amount of player buzz—higher than three percent of all quarterback buzz. Sanchez may benefit from his association with the Jets, the NFL’s most buzzed about team.

“Buzz for the NFL has ramped up this summer as the lockout-shortened off season created a flurry of trades and free agent signings that gave fans plenty to talk about. We’re closely watching to see how all of this excitement in August translates to TV ratings in September. Roughly 18 million Americans tuned in to nationally broadcast NFL games, on average, during the 2010-2011 season,” said Stephen Master, Vice President, Sports for Nielsen.

Masters continued, “It will be interesting to see how fans respond to controversial players, such as Michael Vick, this season. His strong performance on the field was rewarded with a $100 million contract, but he’s still a polarizing figure nationally with a higher than average number of Americans expressing dislike for him, according to the N-Score.”

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. “America’s Team,” the Dallas Cowboys continue to generate national interest in online discussions, although they were topped by their rivals, the Philadelphia Eagles, who led NFC teams and were second in overall pre-season buzz. The NY Giants, and their regional rival, the New England Patriots, round out the top five teams with the most pre-season buzz.

An abbreviated off-season due to the NFL lockout sparked a flurry of free-agent signings and trades of popular players, and generated considerable online buzz among sports fans.  Looking at players who have changed teams ahead of the 2011 season, Reggie Bush received the most buzz during the off-season with 194k mentions. Comparing buzz about NFL players who joined new teams through free-agency or trade in recent weeks, Plaxico Burress led this group of players with more than 13k mentions during the week of July 31 – August 6, followed by Reggie Bush, Nnamdi Asomugha, Chad Ochocinco, and Donovan McNabb.

One in four active web users in the US visited sites in the Sports category, which amounts to 42.5 million Americans during the most recent week (ending July 31).  Compared to weeks during the off-season, the NFL’s network of sites more than doubled their audience, a 258 percent increase in unique US visitors during the first full week after the NFL lockout ended.

As US sports fans go online for the latest news and stats, Yahoo’s network of sports sites was their top destination during the week of July 31. ESPN.com and FoxSports.com websites were also popular destinations for US sports fans in this most recent week. Historically the months of August and September are the busiest for sports sites, so this may provide another preview of the season to come!

While first round picks like 1998’s top choice Peyton Manning and 2004’s top pick Eli Manning (with N-Scores of 262 and 105) rank among the most marketable players, they are the exceptions to the rule. Eight of the top picks from the past decade have an N-Score less than 20, while others receive no recognition when it comes to their brand. Meanwhile, Tom Brady, one of the most marketable players with an N-Score of 131, was a sixth round draft pick for the New England Patriots.

“As with most things, the Manning brothers are standouts—it’s rare that first draft picks achieve their level of marketability,” said Stephen Master, VP Nielsen Sports. “It takes a lot more than early buzz to yield the long-term benefits—and dollars—of endorsements. Endorsement potential over the course of a career is the product of a sustained presence in the public eye rather than a flash of early on-the-field promise.”

“Super Bowl XLV caps what is arguably the most successful season that any sports league has ever had,” said Pat McDonough,   “The number of people watching NFL games has never been higher, with 24% more people watching the average NFL game this year than just five years ago.  The Super Bowl continues to be in a category of its own, with an appeal that transcends sports and extends even to the commercials.  Because of the cliff-hanger nature of the game, viewers were tuning in until the very end, driving viewing levels to new heights.”

Over the past several years, the NFL has attracted larger audiences by broadening its appeal to new audiences, including women and Hispanics, by building up high-profile players – especially quarterbacks – to personify the league and by cross-promoting the games across multiple television networks and emerging digital platforms.

Pittsburgh and Milwaukee Lead Local Market viewing
In the local markets, Milwaukee and Pittsburgh were tied, with a 59.7 household rating.  Other high local market ratings include Columbus, OH and Nashville.

A decade ago, the Baltimore Ravens – with a defense coached by Rex Ryan – beat the New York Giants in a lopsided 34-7 victory. Super Bowl XXXV was watched by 84.3 million viewers, down nearly 4 million from the year before. While that level of viewership was still high, the NFL’s prominence in the national consciousness and on television is stronger now, thanks to a perfect storm of social, media, cultural and technological developments in addition to some pretty savvy marketing.

It’s not just the Super Bowl that is drawing more viewers: Regular season ratings are also strong. In the past five years, ratings of NFL games have risen by more than one percentage point (from 9.3 in 2006 to 10.6 in 2010), accounting for more than 3.5 million additional viewers per game. In fact, eight out of the top ten primetime programs for the entire year were football games (and one – Undercover Boss – appeared immediately after the Super Bowl).

What accounts for football’s hold on the television population? As usual, there isn’t only one answer, but here are some possibilities.

Cross Marketing
While most other professional sports are broadcast on two or three networks, the NFL is spread across five, including three of the four major broadcast networks. This ubiquity has the effect of creating a cross-platform promotional powerhouse. Although the networks ostensibly promote their own upcoming games, in reality they are promoting football in general and the average viewer is exposed to myriad football promotions throughout the season. As a consequence, the average viewer is virtually guaranteed exposure to football marketing and advertising.

More Female Fans
More American women watch the NFL than any other team sport, and not just the Super Bowl.  In the regular season, the NFL has eclipsed Major League Baseball and the National Basketball Association in having the largest percentage of female viewers. In the past decade the NFL has launched several marketing and outreach programs, including coaching clinics, apparel that fits women and donning pink during breast cancer awareness month. Further, watching football tends to be a social event, with people watching in groups of varying gender composition. As a result, the percentage of the football audience that is female has grown from 32.6% in 2006 to 33.6% in 2010.

Biggest markets have successful seasons
NFL has always relied on a mix of large and small markets, and with a strict salary cap and generous revenue sharing, teams from smaller markets such as Green Bay or Pittsburgh can compete financially with Chicago or New York.  As a result markets and regions are not perpetually at a competitive disadvantage as they are in other sports. In 2010, a whopping 24 of 32 NFL Local Markets enjoyed higher regular season ratings, with New Orleans pulling in the highest rating (43.9, up 6%) and St. Louis posting the highest percentage growth (up 66%).

Nevertheless, this year, some of the largest markets had the most successful teams and their local regular season game ratings posted solid increases, which contributed to higher national ratings when these teams appeared in national broadcasts.

QBs have Become Stars, On and Off the Field
In 2001, journeyman Trent Dilfer led the Ravens to a Championship, creating the perception that a team can win a Super Bowl without a marquee quarterback. Most NFL teams now subscribe to the belief that the quarterback is the most critical cog, both on and off the field. The Cowboys, for example, lost QB Tony Romo to injury and saw their season and ratings go south.

In recent years, the NFL has tried to safeguard their stars, implementing rules to ensure that the QB isn’t tackled low, hit in the head or after the whistle. And to a large extent, the quarterbacks this year were healthy and able to serve as the marquee names for their teams.

Interest in quarterbacks goes beyond the stadium: they are making news off the field too. Many have been linked romantically to supermodels, actresses and singers, creating news in celebrity magazines and other non-traditional media. Others have generated publicity for less positive reasons.

Leading the Super Bowl XLV teams are Aaron Rodgers of the Packers and Ben Roethlisberger of the Steelers. Rodgers is a rising star but  Roethlisberger, who has already won two Super Bowl rings, saw his reputation suffer in the wake of sexual assault allegations that were brought against him.

These perceptions of Rodgers and Roethlisberger are borne out by their N-Scores.  Together with E-Poll, Nielsen has devised a method of measuring the endorsement potential of more than 1,000 athletes and sports personalities.  Neither Rodgers nor Roethlisberger have N-Scores that approach the best known and most popular quarterbacks:

The trend lines further illustrate the challenges trajectory of Rodgers and Roethlisberger’s N-Score ratings:

Throughout 2010, football continued to break TV ratings records, showing that even in a fragmented media environment, it is still possible to generate large television numbers for programming that attracts viewers in all demographics. Nielsen cannot predict whether this year’s Super Bowl will have the largest TV audience in history, but it is all but certain to be the most-watched program of 2011.

For more historical information on Super Bowl viewing, please see the following historical table:

The NFL claimed the top four spots in the rankings for C3, which measures the commercials watched both live and with three days of DVR playback. C3 is commonly known as the metric under which much of primetime advertising is bought and sold.

ABC’s “Grey’s Anatomy” is the first non-sports telecast to appear on the list, coming in at #5 for the week with a 5.1 C3 rating among persons 18-49.  The show’s C3 rating was 30% higher than its live-only commercial rating. On average, the C3 rating for the top 20 shows on this list was 8% higher than its live-only commercial rating.

CBS’s “Hawaii Five-O” and “$#*! My Dad Says” were the season’s only two new shows to crack the top 20 in the first week. Each show’s C3 rating was 0.6 points higher than its live-only commercial rating

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.

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%. Additionally, time spent on line for those multitaskers was up from 24 minutes last year to 29 minutes with much of that concurrent time was spent on social networks.

Overall, Google and Facebook were the most visited domains while watching the game. Preliminary analysis of Nielsen’s single-source measurement of Internet and TV, in Convergence Panel and select National People Meter homes, shows that 36% of simultaneous users visited Google.com and 34% visited Facebook.com. Facebook, which was visited during the game by 1 in 20 of all at-home Super Bowl viewers with Internet access, led the most-visited sites in terms of simultaneous time spent, averaging 19 minutes per user.

The growth of simultaneous use, particularly on sites such as Google and Facebook, demonstrates the growing importance of Web interactivity in the television viewing experience. For some time, Nielsen has been discussing and gearing our audience measurement towards how this interactivity could make a positive impact on live television viewership. We expect to see this trend continue to manifest itself in the Winter Olympics and this summer’s FIFA World Cup Soccer event.

• Download  information on Nielsen’s simultaneous measurement of TV and Internet.