Indiantelevision.com Team

(3 February 2007 6:00 pm)

MUMBAI: US media research firm Nielsen has released a study illustrating the enormous impact that the Super Bowl has on all areas of media and marketing in the US.

As the National Football League prepares for Super Bowl XLI on 4 February 2007 in Miami, Nielsen has combined data on television ratings, advertising expenditures, Internet measurement, album sales, box-office receipts, consumer and lifestyle information of NFL fans in Indianapolis and Chicago, NFL merchandise and retail sales, consumer segmentation and marketing, and market research for an in-depth analysis of one of the world's biggest sporting events.

The findings include:

- The 2006 Super Bowl was the highest rated TV show of the year, attracting more than 90 million US viewers.
- The cost for a 30-second TV ad spot reached an all-time high in 2006, while traditional advertiser categories continued to dominate the broadcast.
- Super Bowl ads in 2006 saw a sharp increase in visits to their web sites following the big game.
- Album sales of the Super Bowl halftime performers soared in the week following their appearance in the halftime show.
- Film box office figures continue to plunge on Super Bowl Sunday.
- Sales of soft drinks, beer and chips rise significantly before the Super Bowl.

Super Bowl XL shows slight increase in viewers
In 2006, an average of 90.7 million Americans tuned in to ABC to watch the Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Seattle Seahawks. The event averaged a 41.6 per cent household rating, up slightly from the 2005 match-up between the Philadelphia Eagles and the New England Patriots, which was watched by only 86.1 million viewers in an average of 41.1 per cent of US households.

In local markets, the highest overall local rating in 2006 - at nearly 58 per cent -- was in Pittsburgh, PA., home of Super Bowl XL champions, the Pittsburgh Steelers. The second largest local TV audience, with an average of 55.1 per cent, was in the Seahawks home town of Seattle, while Detroit, the hosts of Super Bowl XL, ranked third with an average of 52.6 per cent. Denver, Jacksonville and Cleveland followed respectively as the next three markets with the largest Super Bowl audiences (see TV Ratings chart).

Over the past ten years, the most-watched Super Bowl was the 1996 contest between the Dallas Cowboys and the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl XXX, which drew 94.1 million viewers for an average household rating of 46 per cent. With a rating of 49.1 per cent the 1982 Super Bowl is the most-watched Super Bowl of all time and the fourth-highest rated television programme since 1961 (just behind the final episodes of M*A*S*H, Dallas and Roots Part VIII).

Overall, the Super Bowl accounts for seven of the top-10 telecasts of all time. Of the top-40 sports telecasts since January 1961, all but six telecasts were Super Bowls.

Super Bowl viewers reflect the diversity of American sports fans : Although men are the demographic with the highest interest in watching the Super Bowl on TV (41 per cent or 42.6 million viewers), a significant number of women, Hispanics and African Americans also tuned in to the broadcast.

Approximately 34.7 million women over the age of 18 watched the 2006 Super Bowl for a 31 per cent average rating. Among women viewers, those in the 25-54 age group had the highest interest, with a 33 per cent average household rating.

An average of 27.2 per cent of African Americans, or approximately 9.7 million viewers, tuned in to Super Bowl XL. The highest watching African American age category was 25-54 years olds, with a rating of 33.4 per cent. An average of 15.7 per cent of Hispanics, or approximately 6.1 million viewers, watched the 2006 Super Bowl. About 19.1 per cent of Hispanics over age 55 watched the game, the highest rating for any age category of Hispanic viewers.

The cost of Super Bowl advertising continues to rise
In 2006, advertisers continued to pay an increasingly high premium for exposure to one of television's largest national audiences. According to Nielsen Monitor-Plus, the cost for a 30-second spot during the 2006 game rose to $2.5 million from $2,4 million in 2005.

The cost for 30-second ads during the Super Bowl has continued to increase over the past 10 years, with the exception of 2003, which saw a slight drop of $50,000 in the rate from the previous year to $2,150,000.

Traditional Advertiser Categories Dominated at Super Bowl 2006 57 unique brands advertised over 47 minutes and 20 seconds of commercial time during the 2006 Super Bowl, according to Nielsen Monitor-Plus. The categories that advertised the most during the 2006 Super Bowl included Beer, Motion Pictures, Automotive and Wireless Telephone Services.

The beer category increased its airtime from 4 minutes in 2005 to 4 ½ minutes in 2006. Motion Pictures decreased ad time in 2006 versus the prior year by one minute from 5 ½ to 4 ½ minutes. Automotive also saw a decline in ad budgets by 1 ½ minutes to 4 minutes in 2006.

Anheuser-Busch aired the most commercial time with 4 ½ minutes for their Budweiser, Bud Light, and Michelob Amber brands. Budweiser aired one 60-second ad and two 30 second ads. Bud Light ran four 30-second ads, while Michelob Ultra aired just one 30-second spot.

Pepsi aired two minutes of commercials, making it the second largest advertiser. Gilette, Mobile ESPN, Walt Disney World, and Warner Brothers Entertainment tied for third place, each airing 90 seconds of ads.

Internet Traffic: In 2006, Super Bowl advertisers saw an impressive 55 per cent increase in their Web traffic on the day after the big game, from 7.9 million unique visitors on Super Bowl Sunday to 12.1 million on Monday.

Fidelity Investments was the fastest growing Web site day over day, increasing 203 per cent. Overstock.com ranked No. 2 with a 145 per cent increase, and Expedia rounded out the top three, growing 141 per cent from Sunday to Monday.

Leading up to the Super Bowl, fans go online to check out statistics and prepare for armchair quarterbacking. In the week ending 5 February, 2006, Superbowl.com had a unique audience of 2.3 million, a 26 per cent increase over Super Bowl week in 2005. NFL.com and NFL Team Sites had 2.0 million unique visitors each during that same week in 2006, a 46 and 17 per cent year-over-year increase, respectively.

Super Bowl Buzz on the Internet Nielsen BuzzMetrics audits brand buzz before, during and after the Super Bowl, arming advertisers with comprehensive data and deep insight around commercial talk-value, stickiness, virality and even the popularity and appeal of the spokespersons and celebrities in the television advertising event.

Blog Posts discussing Super Bowl ads and Kevin Federline: The accompanying chart shows the most buzzed about commercials from the 2006 Super Bowl. Conversation "lifts" in brand related discussion coming from the BuzzMetrics database of approximately 40 million blogs.

Among total blog posts related to 2007 Super Bowl advertising, Britney Spear's ex, Kevin Federline - also known as “K-Fed” - is leading the discussion thanks to his recently announced role as pitchman for Nationwide Insurance. In the seven-day period ending 21 January 2007, K-Fed buzz around Super Bowl advertising represented 26 per cent of all blog conversations related to Super Bowl advertising, and fully 49 per cent on 17 January 2007.

Other top issues being discussed prior to the game include buzz around the “user generated ad” contests by several advertisers, and a marriage proposal that is scheduled to take place during one of the ads. As in past years, total blog buzz around the Super Bowl is expected continue building rapidly and peak the day after the game.

Box Office Gross : As usual, movie-going plunged on 2006 Super Bowl Sunday. Box office receipts, which averaged $31.1 million on a typical winter Sunday in 2006, fell to $19.4 million on Sunday, February 5, 2006 - a 38 per cent decline. Over the past five years, the average domestic box office for Super Bowl Sunday versus the average winter Sunday is down by about $11.8 million.

Album sales of half time performers again see a strong increase: This year, recording artist Prince will take a break from his Las Vegas show to perform in the Pepsi Super Bowl XLI Halftime Show at Dolphin Stadium in Miami. According to past trends, Prince and other Super Bowl performers can expect to see a sharp increase in album sales in the week following the big game.

As a halftime performer during the 2006 Super Bowl, The Rolling Stones saw a significant increase in sales of their albums. Nielsen SoundScan compared album sales data from the week prior to Super Bowl XL, ending February 5, 2006, versus the week ending February 12, 2006, and the Rolling Stones A Bigger Bang saw a 34 per cent increase in sales.

Super Bowl Continues to Influence Sports Merchandise Sales : A dramatic increase in retail sales of Chicago Bears and the Indianapolis Colts merchandise reflect how loyal football fans are voting with their pocketbooks again this year for their favorite Super Bowl teams.

The Chicago Bears and the Indianapolis Colts are both among the top five overall best selling teams in the NFL to date. Over the past four weeks, since the start of the NFL playoffs, the Indianapolis Colts and the Chicago Bears are the top two best selling teams, respectively.

In terms of jersey sales, both Peyton Manning and Joseph Addai of the Indianapolis Colts, along with Brian Urlacher of the Chicago Bears, are currently among the top six best sellers among all NFL players.

In 2006, the NFL finished the year up 15 per cent in terms of dollar sales at retail and is currently up 41.7 per cent for the first 4 weeks of 2007 in terms of all licensed merchandise.