The following is Nielsen Sports Marketing Service's spotlight series on sports sponsorships. The first chart indicates the Top 20 sports advertisers ($000) in total expenditures during the first half of '97 (January-June), followed by the Top 10 national estimated expenditures by sport ($000) for the same period (THE DAILY):
| TOP 20 LEADING SPORTS ADVERTISERS ($000) |
| COMPANY | TOTAL |
| COMPANY | TOTAL |
| Anheuser-Busch | $86,403.87 | PepsiCo. | $31,828.98 |
| Chevrolet Motor | 62,676.97 | Proctor & Gamble | 30,712.75 |
| Miller Brewing | 60,981.66 | American Honda | 28,737.79 |
| Nike | 53,892.63 | Chrysler/Plymouth | 26,801.64 |
| AT&T | 42,454.29 | Visa International | 25,945.77 |
| McDonald's | 39,219.60 | Coca-Cola | 25,314.61 |
| Ford Motor | 36,269.11 | American Express | 24,085.23 |
| Nissan Motor | 35,179.94 | Pizza Hut | 22,142.67 |
| Dodge Car-Truck | 34,054.18 | M&M/Mars | 22,064.20 |
| MCI Communications | 32,622.27 | Toyota Motor Sales | 19,352.47 |
| TOP 10 NATIONAL ESTIMATED EXPENDITURES BY SPORT ($000) |
| SPORT | TOTAL | NETWORK | CABLE | SYNDICATE |
| NBA | $475,489.30 | $318,079.50 | $157,409.80 | — |
| College Basketball | 347,380.70 | 50,107.90 | 297,272.80 | — |
| NFL | 188,890.10 | 1,117.00 | 187,773.10 | — |
| Pro Golf | 185,808.25 | 115,889.60 | 69,918.65 | — |
| Motor Sports | 145,835.15 | 66,154.90 | 79,680.25 | — |
| Sports Commentary | 127,895.80 | 47,661.60 | 80,234.20 | — |
| NHL | 121,991.73 | 46,077.80 | 75,913.93 | — |
| Sports Anthology | 103,024.17 | 31,445.10 | 70,762.87 | 816.2 |
| College Football | 80,482.10 | 2,601.70 | 77,880.40 | — |
| Wrestling | 53,966.54 | 13,657.30 | 12,962.07 | 27,347.17 |
