(29 January 2003 4:00 pm)

The company claims to have tested more than 25,000 commercials since it was founded in 1962. It found that male television viewers were three times more likely to report having watched all the advertisements in a given quarter of the Super Bowl game (compared to men watching college bowl games or the AFC Championship game). They were able to remember up to four times as many advertisements aired during the Super Bowl than other championship games.

The Ipsos-ASI results are based on interviews comparing advertisement recall among men watching the Super Bowl with advertisement recall among men who watched the AFC Conference title game or a college football bowl game (the Fiesta Bowl or the Rose Bowl). This year, the company found that 37 per cent of the audience reported to have watched all of the 60-or so paid ads in any given quarter during the Super Bowl.

Ipsos-ASI conducted interviews via telephone with 1,200 adult males this month. Findings included>

- 87 per cent could remember without prompting the name of at least one of the advertisers in the Super Bowl

- The average viewer could remember unaided 3.5 advertisers in the Super Bowl (up from 3.2 advertisers during the 2002 Super Bowl game)

- 48 per cent of those surveyed claimed to have watched all the ads during the Super Bowl halftime show - up from 40 per cent in 2002.

- Budweiser and Pepsi fared the best during the Super Bowl. More than 66 per cent of the audience could remember advertising for Budweiser, and 44 per cent remembered ads for Pepsi. Ads from these two companies also fared best in 2002.

Meanwhile ESPN provided live coverage of the event Super Bowl XXXVII on 26 January to more than 140 countries and territories throughout the world. ESPN televised the event throughout Latin America, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and the Pacific Rim. Commentary and analysis was provided in English, Spanish, Portuguese, Mandarin, Cantonese, and Hindi.