A Billion Is Not a Billion

Steve Rushin’s column in Sports Illustrated this week is titled “A Billion People Can Be Wrong.” He quotes a number of publications that claim the Super Bowl will be watched by 1 billion people in 225 countries. He then provides stats that show only 93 million people watched last year, with 98% of them in North America. As he points out, we’re only 907 million people short of a billion.

Why is the Super Bowl such a hype magnet? Why are the advertising rates and the viewer stats so inflated? (Maybe this is where football’s steroid use can be found). Yes, 93 million is an awful lot, but it sure isn’t a billion.

Steve Yastrow posted this on February 3, 2006, in Marketing.
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