WC Final or Super Bowl, What's Bigger???

### MODERATOR'S NOTE ###

And this has what to do with DC United?

I believe this exact question was addressed some time ago on the B&M board. I guess I'll ship this over there ... perhaps the B&M mods can merge it with the old thread.

 

Here's a start -- this article states that the Brasil - Germany World Cup final last year was watched by nearly 1.5 billion viewers.

http://www.worldcup2002-travel.com/pages/maniacs/034_worldcupfinal.html

 

http://www.you.com.au/news/1001.htm

 

Here are some things I found:

MLS net article says that 2 billon watched Germany Brasil (http://www.mlsnet.com/content/01/mls0102wctv.html)

A "Super Bowl Facts" page (http://www.igl.net/wwwsports/messages/93.shtml) claims that 800,000 actually watch the Super Bowl.

As usual, we in the US tend to get a bit sloppy when throwing out phrases like "most watched TV event" (i.e., we forget the world consists of more than just the US). Also, just because the SB is shown in "182 nations" doesn't mean that anyone watches it, or that it's on live.

 

http://www.allexperts.com/previousqv.asp?QuestionID=2807030

Andy

 

This article, written before the last Super Bowl, states that the number of people expected to watch the Super Bowl worldwide was 800 million:

http://www.superbowl.com/entertainment/story/6116425

So, somewhat unscientifically, you can tell your friend that the World Cup final was nearly twice as popular as the Super Bowl.

I'd like to know how many media credentials are handed out for each event. That would be a good barometer of media interest in an event, which would be another way to gauge an event's popularity.

 

Even so, 800 million is pretty incredible for what is basically just an American domestic product. The vast majority of folks tuning in are tuning in for the spectacle.

Now that's good marketing!

 

About 2,000 credentials are issued for a Super Bowl, give or take. They issued all of 350 for the first one, which did not sell out.

The WC Final is much, much bigger and more important to many, many more people worldwide than the Super Bowl. It's exactly the reverse here.

 

I really have a tough time swallowing that number, being that the Super Bowl is on in the middle of the night (on a Sunday, no less) in much of the world. I also doubt that it is shown on network TV in most of the world; it wasn't in the Czech Repubic, where I lived for a while, and where cable wasn't as common as it is here.

 

i dont even think the super is in the top three in the world. i think the top three are world cup, olympics(not sure if its summer, winter or combined), and then european championships

 

I cannot believe someone actually thought the Superbowl could be bigger than the WC.

 

800 million actual viewers for the SuperBowl sounds unrealistic. Must be 800 million POTENTIAL viewers.

It is covered on small commercial channels or Pay-TV in many countries and with the awkward kick-off time (two big oceans on each side of America making the Pacific Ocean having all day time hours and Eur,Afr,Asia the nighthours by kick-off) it doesn't attract the "mildly interested" group on other continents.

 

In each case, these numbers have lots of problems.

The "viewership" figures for each of these large events (along with the Oscars, Princess Di's funeral, etc) are always reported to be some improbably high number.

This is because "worldwide ratings" are pretty much a product of inflation, guesswork, and frantic bullshit in action. The most commonly quoted numbers tend to be the number of people who could have watched the event, if they wanted to.

This is not just a US phenomenon--Sky Sports News was claiming a few weeks ago that a billion people were watching a Wednesday night Man Utd-Arsenal match live. Riiiight.

As for your friend, dcu4l, run this by him: the combined populations of Germany and Brazil are roughly that of the US. If you make the reasonable assumption that the World Cup final was at least as big of a deal in those countries as the Super Bowl is here, you've got roughly equal TV audiences right there.

Now, ask yourself, which event is more central to the culture in England? In Japan? In Korea? In China? In France? And so on.

The Super Bowl is the biggest American sporting event (by far) and it may even be the biggest annual sporting event worldwide (though I expect that the Champions' League final gives it a run for its money), but common sense should tell you that the World Cup blows the Super Bowl away.

 

This is the main street (according to the article) in Brazil's capitol during a 1st round Brazil match in the WC 2002.
I guess that guy on the sidewalk is not a soccer fan.

 

The 800 million figure the NFL throws out is not the actual viewing figure. It is the amount of people that can potentially watch the game live or tape delay. Anyways, The Champions League Final, F.A. Cup Final, European Cup Final, Champions League Semis, Quarters, etc., etc., are all watched by more people than the Super Bowl. Hell, maybe even the Cricket World Cup, Rugby World Cup, Aussie Rules Grand Final, etc, also are watched by more people.

 

I believe the CWC match between India and Pakistan was watched by over 1 billion people this past winter.

 

According to this article, the 1999 Champions League final between Man U and Bayern Munich was seen by an estimated 500 million viewers worldwide:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/soccer/world/1999/champions_league/news/1999/05/26/lead_sidebar/

That puts it well behind Super Bowl viewership, although I agree that these worldwide numbers probably represent imprecise estimates rather than hard numbers.

 

Super Bowl viewership

The viewership numbers for both the WC final and SB are Wags (wild-a$$ guesses). But I do find the SB numbers especially hard to believe.

In addition to the fact that it's late night/early morning in Europe, and Monday morning in Asia (a workday), do the math:

U.S. population = 280 million

Some figures I've seen suggest half of the U.S. population watches the SB (IIRC about 25% of those watch for the commercials!) I believe these numbers, btw. So that leaves 660 million viewers worldwide. That would mean just over 1 in 10 people in foreign countries would have to watch the SB (assuming the world's population is 6 billion) to arrive at the 800 million figure. Pretty unlikely!

 

It's all a bit vague but it does look like one is an estimate of how many did watch something, while the other is an estimate based on how many could have watched it, had they all wanted to - i.e. it was broadcast to 800 million homes, but they might have watched something else.
As, generally, no figures for programmes watched on tape delay exist, it does put something of a question mark against the figure. I do find it impossible to believe that the superbowl is watched by even half as many people as the world cup final. I'd guess the true figure is well below half of the quoted number, but then again I'd also guess that 500 million for the champions league final is inflated too. Europeans tend to be rather parochial and are less inclined to watch unless a team from their country is competing.

 

I would have guessed that even the FA Cup final has more viewers worldwide that the Super Bowl. I would guess a Super Bowl is watched by a quarter-billion max, with half of those being in the US.