The Nielsen Company last week released its annual “Guide to the Super Bowl,” which showcases a wide range of consumer and media information about the most notable marketing event in the US - the NFL’s Super Bowl - scheduled for February 3 in Glendale, AZ.

Below, some key findings from Nielsen.

Television

• As usual, the 2007 Super Bowl was the highest rated TV show in the US for the year attracting more than 93 million TV viewers.
• The most-watched Super Bowl of all time was in 1982 with a 49.1% rating, which also happened to be the fourth-highest rated television program since 1961.
• In local markets, the highest overall local rating in 2007 - at nearly 56% - was in Indianapolis, IN., home of Super Bowl XLI champions, the Indianapolis Colts.
• As expected, men watched the 2007 Super Bowl the most (41.1% rating, or 43.2 million viewers), yet a significant number of women, Hispanics and African-Americans also tuned into the televised game:
  • Approximately 36.4 million women over the age of 18 watched the 2007 Super Bowl for a 32.2% average rating. Among women viewers, those age 25-54 had the highest interest, with a 32.9% average rating.
  • An average of 28.5% of African-Americans (about 10.1 million viewers), and an average of 15.5% of Hispanics (some 6.2 million viewers) tuned into Super Bowl XLI.

Online

• Super Bowl 2007 advertisers saw a collective 50% increase in web traffic the day after the big game, from 8.5 million unique visitors on Super Bowl Sunday to 12.7 million unique visitors on Monday.

• Budweiser brands generated the most online buzz, with nearly 21% of buzz volume.

• The December 3 announcement of this year’s Super Bowl half-time show performer Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers ignited an 800% increase in online buzz compared with October 2007.

Advertisers

• The cost for a 30-second commercial during the 2007 game was $2.385 million down from $2.5 million in 2006.
• Total spending for the 2007 game reached over $161.8 million.
• The categories that advertised the most during the 2007 Super Bowl included Beer, Automotive, and Soft Drinks.

• In 2007, Anheuser-Busch aired the most commercial time, while Cadillac had the most sponsorship air-time.

Music

• Halftime and pre-game performances have provided sales growth for music artists since the early ’90s.
• After last year’s Super Bowl halftime, Billboard reported that Prince’s album sales more than doubled.
• Rolling Stones in 2006: Rolling Stones’ “A Bigger Bang” album showed a 34% increase over the week before the Super Bowl.
• Paul McCartney in 2005: His 2002 live album posted a 542% increase in sales, while two of his greatest hits sets more than doubled (”All the Best” by 246% and “Wingspan: Hits and History” by 161%). Beatles’ hits album “1″ showed 72% growth.

Box office and DVD sales

• Box office sales continue to be lower on Super Bowl Sunday vs. typical Sundays in the winter months: US box office receipts, which averaged $30.7 million on a typical winter Sunday in 2006, fell to $16.4 million on Super Bowl Sunday 2007 (2/4/07) - a 47% decline.
• The top selling Super Bowl-related DVD since 2000 is SUPER BOWL XXXVIII, featuring the Patriots and the Panthers.

Shopping trends

• During the Super Bowl period, snack food had the largest incremental increase in total sales, and alcoholic beverage coolers had the largest percentage increase.

• Within the snacks category, tortilla chips are the most popular with a 29% increase in sales during the Super Bowl period and a $13.4 million incremental sales boost.

Demographics of football fans

• People in wealthy homes, which generally have more than a $100,000 income, are almost three times more likely to watch the Super Bowl as people in homes with less than $30,000 in annual income.
• NY Giants fans are more than twice as likely as New York adults to have bought sporting event tickets online within the past year.
• 15% of Boston’s Patriots fans belong to a household with an annual income of $150k or more.
• Ford (25%), Toyota (21%), and Chevrolet (15%) are the top three auto brands among Patriot fans in the Boston market

See Nielsen’s release for more information from its “Guide to the Super Bowl.”