National Football League

Manning NFL's most marketable QB

Published Jan. 7, 2011 12:00 a.m. ET

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Tom Brady may have more Super Bowl rings and the supermodel wife, but here's one way Peyton Manning appears to have him beat: marketability.

The Nielsen Co. partnered with E-Poll Market Research to create the "N-Score," a statistic that measures the endorsement potential of athletes. To determine the scores, Nielsen administered surveys to 1,100 Americans above the age of 13.

The results are based on the public's awareness of the athletes and on a series of questions pertaining to their appeal and attributes.

The research shows that Manning dominates Brady in marketability. Manning currently has an N-Score of 262 compared to Brady's 131.

Stephen Master, the vice president of Nielsen Sports, called anything above 200 a "Hall-of-Fame score."

In some ways, Manning's rating is the result of his willingness to develop a public personality -- a chicken-and-egg scenario. He has been featured in numerous popular ad campaigns and has received praise for his appearances on "The Simpsons" and "Saturday Night Live," which boost his score.

The N-Score also shows the public's response to controversy. Michael Vick's rating peaked at 60 in September 2005, but plummeted to 5 in January 2008, shortly after he was sent to prison.

It has since climbed back to 16 nationally and 72 in the Philadelphia market. And among the black community, Vick's score has soared to 276.

Likewise, Ben Roethlisberger has seen a similar rise since his suspension from football, up to 22 from a 6 in May.

But no quarterback has been more marketable than Brett Favre. In March 2008, he registered a whopping 558.
 

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