The Nielsen Report on Super Bowl Advertising

The Nielsen Report on Super Bowl Advertising

Advertisers Run 101 Commercials with Average Viewer Rating of 32.1

NEW YORK, Feb. 8 /PRNewswire/ -- The average commercial aired during Super Bowl XLI received a national television rating among persons older than age two of 32.1 and was viewed by 92.8 million people, according to The Nielsen Company, which today issued a summary of Super Bowl-related advertising measurement results from its media tracking businesses.

Since the average viewer rating for the Super Bowl program itself was 32.8, this means that the drop-off for the average commercial minute on the Super Bowl was 0.7 ratings points. These are "live plus same day" ratings derived from Nielsen's NPOWER software system, which allows clients to determine the rating, including digital video recording (DVR) playback, for any minute of any television program. This is the first year that Nielsen has been able to report viewing from DVR playback.

Other highlights from Nielsen's report are:

* The most viewed program minute during the Super Bowl was at 9:10 p.m.
EST and seen by 99.9 million viewers. The rating was a 34.5
* The highest rated commercial minute was the Hewlett-Packard commercial
at 9:25 p.m., which was seen by 99.5 million people
* The commercials that had the highest gain from DVR playback were by
CareerBuilder.com and Doritos, both of which were viewed by 2.5 million
people on DVR playback.
* There were 101 separate commercials telecast during 44 minutes and 10
seconds, compared to 96 commercials during 47 minutes and 18 seconds of
commercial time during Super Bowl XL
* The company website that saw the biggest increase in online traffic
after the Super Bowl was Career Builder Network
* The commercials with the biggest online "buzz" were the Budweiser and
Bud Light commercials, generating 20% of all post-game online discussion
* According to an online poll, people who viewed the game in High
Definition TV could recall 15% more of the commercials
* The advertiser with the most commercials was Anheuser-Busch
* The advertising category with the most commercials was beer

Viewing the Commercials

To view full-motion commercials, storyboards, and ratings that aired during the Super Bowls since 1999, visit Nielsen Monitor Plus' creative website at https://www.nielsenmedia.com/monitorplus/superbowl/.

Top Rated Commercials

The Hewlett-Packard commercial that ran at 9:25 p.m. was the most watched commercial during the Super Bowl. It had a rating of 35.1 and was seen by 99.5 million people. These "live plus same day" ratings include viewing that was recorded and played back on digital video recorders (DVRs) on Super Bowl Sunday.

Top-Rated Commercials
P2+, Live Plus Same Day

Commercial
Minute Viewers
Rank Parent/Brand Description Time Rating (SD) (000)

Hewlett-Packard
1 Man/Motorcycle/Computers 9:25 PM 35.1 99,493

Toyota Tundra
2 Truck Tows Load 8:55 PM 35.0 99,099

Fed-Ex Corp
3 Woman/People in Meeting 8:58 PM 34.6 98,213

4 Promo - CBS CSI 9:00 PM 34.5 97,893

Nationwide Mutual Insurance
Scenes from Music
5 Video/Restaurant 8:59 PM 34.5 97,669

Anheuser-Busch - Bud Light
5 Couple in Car/Man with Ax 8:59 PM 34.5 97,669

Anheuser-Busch - Bud Light
2 Gorillas/Woman/Man Delivers
7 Beer 8:43 PM 34.3 97,506

Revlon Hair Color
7 City/Woman/Highway/Plane 8:43 PM 34.3 97,506

CareerBuilder.com
9 Men in Office Gear Fight 8:48 PM 34.3 97,365

Taco Bell
9 Steak Grilled Taquitos/2 Lions 8:48 PM 34.3 97,365

Most-Viewed Commercials on DVR Playback

Almost 2.5 million people watched the CareerBuilder.com and Doritos commercials seen at 7:29 p.m. via DVR playback. Nielsen began adding households with Digital Video Recorders to its sample in late 2005 and this is the first Super Bowl in which DVR playback has been included in the television ratings. During Super Bowl XLI, all of the most played-back commercials appeared between 7:16 p.m. and 7:54 p.m.

Absolute
Difference
between
Live and
LiveSD
Rank Parent/Brand Description Time (000)

CareerBuilder.com
1 Men in Woods 7:29 PM 2,486

Doritos
1 Man at Register 7:29 PM 2,486

Budweiser Beer
3 Dog Looks at Meat/Parade Horses 7:23 PM 2,456

Coca Cola
4 Nurse Gives Drink to Elderly Man 7:54 PM 2,446

Chevrolet
5 Women in Car/Men Take off Shirts 7:30 PM 2,408

Bud Light Beer
6 3 Men in Pool, People Get Slapped 7:35 PM 2,365

Coca Cola
7 Animated People/Man Drinks Coke 7:16 PM 2,335

Garmin LTD. Navigational Equipment
7 Man in Car/Giants Fight 7:24 PM 2,335

7 Big Brothers/Big Sisters of America 7:24 PM 2,335

7 Promo - CBS Football 7:24 PM 2,335

Walt Disney Co.
7 Wild Hogs Motion Picture 7:46 PM 2,335

Sprint
7 Man in Airport/Broadband Cards 7:46 PM 2,335

Top Categories, Advertisers, and Brands

According to Nielsen Monitor-Plus, the global leader in competitive advertising intelligence, this year's Super Bowl aired 44 minutes and 10 seconds of commercial time, from 44 unique brands.

The categories that advertised the most this year are Beer, Automotive, Beverages, and Motion Pictures. In the top slot again, Beer aired 5 minutes of commercial time. Automotive and Beverages followed, each airing 4 1/2 minutes of ads. The Motion Picture category only ran 1 minute and 45 seconds of commercials this year.

The Beer category increased its airtime this year from 4 1/2 minutes in 2006 to 5 minutes. The perennial leading Super Bowl advertiser, Anheuser- Busch, was the leader again this year with 5 minutes of commercial time. The beer category included advertising for Bud Light, Budweiser and Bud Select. Bud Light aired three minutes of ads (six 30-second spots), Budweiser ran one 60-second and one 30-second ad, while Bud Select aired just one 30-second commercial.

The Automotive category increased time from last year as well, by 30 seconds to 4 1/2 minutes. Toyota Tundra Truck ran two 30-second ads, Honda CR-V ran a 30-second commercial, Chevrolet aired one 30-second and one 60- second ad, General Motors ran one minute-long commercial, and finally Honda aired one 30-second spot.

After a six-year absence, Coca-Cola returned to the Super Bowl, airing four commercials, totaling 3 minutes, including two 60-second ads. Coca-Cola was the second largest advertiser this year. Pepsi-Cola, a Top 3 advertiser for well over a decade, ran one minute of beverage commercials to promote its Sierra Mist soda. Snapple was the final advertiser in the Beverage category with one 30-second commercial for its Green Iced Tea.

The Motion Picture category reduced spending in this year's game. Only 4 movies were advertised for a total of 1 minute, 45 seconds overall. Each movie ran just one spot: (Hannibal Rising, one 30-second ad; Meet the Robinsons, one 30-second spot; Pride, one 15-second commercial, and Wild Hogs at one 30-second ad). During the 2006 Super Bowl, 9 movies were advertised, totaling 4 1/2 minutes.

New advertisers to the 2007 Super Bowl include: Garmin, Hewlett-Packard, Revlon, American Heart Association, Flomax, T-Mobile, Phillips Van Heusen, Sales Genie, Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, Lions Gate Entertainment, and Weinstein Co.

Top Categories
Category Minutes of Exposure
Beer 5.0
Automotive 4.5
Beverage 4.5
Motion Pictures 1.8
Source: Nielsen Monitor-Plus

Top Brands Commercial Time
Bud Light 3 minutes
Coca-Cola Classic 3 minutes
Budweiser 1 1/2 minutes
CareerBuilder.com 1 1/2 minutes
Doritos 1 1/2 minutes

Top Advertisers Commercial Time
Anheuser-Busch 5 minutes
Coca-Cola 3 minutes
General Motors 2 1/2 minutes
Pepsi-Cola 2 1/2 minutes

Internet Users Flock to Super Bowl Advertisers' Websites

Super Bowl advertisers showed impressive increases in traffic on their respective websites the day after the event, according to data compiled from Nielsen//NetRatings. Out of all Super Bowl advertisers, CareerBuilder Network's website pulled in the most unique audience with 1.6 million users, and also showed the most growth the next day increasing 148% from their Sunday usage levels. Hewlett Packard's website followed with 1.4 million users which was a 74% growth from Super Bowl Sunday.

Super Bowl Advertisers with Fastest Sunday to Monday
Unique Audience Growth
Feb. 4-5 2007

Super Bowl Sunday Mon., 2/5 UA Sun-Mon %
Site UA (000) (000) Growth
CareerBuilder Network 654 1,623 148 %
Hewlett Packard 795 1,387 74 %
BLOCKBUSTER 457 736* 61 %
CBS Sportsline.com 761 1,188 56 %
CBS Television 527 622* 18 %

Source: Nielsen//NetRatings (U.S., Home and Work)
Note: Includes only those Web sites that fell above minimum reporting
levels on both days.
* These web sites do not meet minimum sample size standards. Projected and
average measures for these sites may exhibit large changes
month-to-month as a result.

Top Super Bowl Ads by Buzz Volume

What was the buzz around the water cooler after the highly anticipated 2007 Super Bowl Ads debuted? According to Nielsen BuzzMetrics, Nationwide "Life Comes at You Fast" and Snickers "Mechanic" were the two most actively blogged about individual ads the day after the game. These ads were also the most actively blogged about the day of the game. The Budweiser and Bud Light ads made up 20% of all Super Bowl ad mentions. Coke "Video Game" received more attention than the other Coke ads. Coca-Cola's aggregated presence is in the top ten in terms of buzz.

Buzz
Advertisement Volume
%
Budweiser/Bud Light (Aggregated) 20.6
Nationwide Insurance 9.8
Snickers: Mechanic 9.8
Doritos: (2 Aggregated) 7.9
Bud Light: Rock, Paper, Scissors 7.2
GM: Robots 6.0
Coca-Cola: Aggregated 5.3
GoDaddy.com: Marketing 4.6
Blockbuster: Mouse 4.3
CareerBuilder.com (2 Aggregated) 4.1

Source: Nielsen BuzzMetrics

Advertising and High Definition TV

In order to learn more about Super Bowl commercials and viewing in High Definition, Nielsen Media Research conducted an online study following the Super Bowl. In this survey, conducted between 10:00 a.m. on Monday and 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday, 247 randomly selected individuals over age 12 were asked about their Super Bowl viewing experience. Highlights include:

* People who viewed the Super Bowl on a High Definition TV set were 168%
more likely to view the game in a group of 6 or more people.
* People who viewed the game in HD could recall 15% more of the
commercials.
* HD viewers were 27% more likely to find the ads in this year's Super
Bowl at least as entertaining as last year's Super Bowl.
* Super Bowl viewers were able to absorb the large number of ads
associated with the game. The more commercials they were exposed to,
the more they were able to recall. Viewers who viewed the entire game
recalled 21% more ads than those who viewed 75% of the game.

[Note: Meant to give a quick glimpse into commercial recall and HD broadcasting of the Super Bowl, the results of this study are not necessarily statistically significant but provide strong directional evidence of the impact of HD and advertising as it relates to the Super Bowl.]

About The Nielsen Company

The Nielsen Company is a global information and media company with leading market positions and recognized brands in marketing information (ACNielsen), media information (Nielsen Media Research), business publications (Billboard, The Hollywood Reporter, Adweek), trade shows and the newspaper sector (Scarborough Research). The privately held company has more than 42,000 employees and is active in more than 100 countries, with headquarters in Haarlem, the Netherlands, and New York, USA.

Source: The Nielsen Report

CONTACT: Gary Holmes of The Nielsen Company, +1-646-654-8975

Web site: http://www.nielsenmedia.com/
http://www.nielsen.com/

-------
Profile: intent