Olympians, Tennis Players, Ex-NFLers Best Endorsers

January 27, 2011

nielsen-sports-top-endorsers-jan-2011.JPGOlympians dominate the top five most effective male athlete endorsers, while tennis players dominate the top five most effective female athlete endorsers and retired NFL football players constitute three of the top five most effective commentator endorsers, according to a new report from The Nielsen Company.

White Top Male Athlete Endorser

“The Year in Sports 2010” indicates that using a proprietary scoring index called the N-Score which defines the top 29% of sports endorsers as having a score of 30 or more, three of the top five male athlete endorsers are members of the US Olympic team. Olympic snowboarder Shaun White score substantially higher than any other male athlete with a rating of 536, while speedskater Apolo Anton Ohno comes in third with a score of 273 and swimmer Michael Phelps comes in fifth with a score of 212.

Rounding out the top five are NBA basketball star Shaquille O’Neal in second with a score of 336 and NFL quarterback Peyton Manning coming in fourth with a score of 262. Athletes with an N-score of 200 or higher are considered “Hall of Fame” level and represent the top 4% of all endorsers.

Venus Williams Top Female Athlete Endorser

Meanwhile, pro tennis player Venus Williams tops the list of female athlete endorsers with a score of 169. Fellow tennis star (and Venus’ sister) Serena Williams comes in third with a score of 131, while tennis ace Maria Sharapova comes in fifth with a score of 43. Olympic skier Lindsay Vonn ranked second with a score of 147 and auto racer Danica Patrick finished fourth with a score of 72.

The Williams sisters and Vonn all scored in the “superstar” range of 100-199, representing the top 5-9% of endorsers. Patrick scored at the “MVP” level of 50-99, putting her in the top 10-16% of endorsers, while Sharapova earned an “All-Star” score between 30-49, placing her in the top 17-29%.

Bradshaw Best Commentator Endorser

Among commentators, retired football players clearly dominate, as the top three are all best known for having played in the NFL in years past. Terry Bradshaw leads with a score of 378, followed by former player and coach Mike Ditka (344) and Dan Marino (260). Interestingly, all three men are members of the NFL Hall of Fame as well as N-Score Hall of Famers.

Coming in with superstar scores are professional TV broadcasters Chris Berman (192) and Bob Costas (182).

NFL Produces Most Online Buzz

nielsen-sports-buzz-jan-2011.JPGMeasuring the top 2010 sporting events by online buzz (number of online messages relating to the event), the NFL produced the number one, three and four most buzzed events of the year. More impressively, the number four event, the 2010 NFL draft, occurred in April during the NFL off-season.

The NBA produced the second and third-most buzzed events, with the offseason events of the NBA draft in June 2010 and superstar LeBron James joining the Miami Heat in July tying for the number three spot.

Major League Baseball produced the fifth- and sixth-most buzzed events and the NHL Stanley Cup championship was the seventh-most buzzed sports event of the year.

Top Sporting Events Over-Index in Wealthy Households

nielsen-sports-advertising-appeal-jan-2011.JPGMany top sporting events in 2010 significantly over-indexed for TV viewership in US households earning more than $100,000 annually. The NHL Stanley Cup had the best viewing index score in this income group of any 2010 sporting event (190).

Football Remains #1 US Sport

Three in 10 Americans who follow at least one sport (31%) say professional football is their favorite sport, while 17% say baseball, according to results of a recent Harris Poll. This is a narrowing of the gap from last year when over one-third (35%) of sports fans said professional football was their favorite sport and 16% said it was baseball.

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