If you were to ask any American the name of the largest sporting event, they’d probably say the Super Bowl. Million dollar advertisements, a momentous half time show and the entire country tuned in because of the money at stake in the office pool. Either that or the chances of seeing something “pop out” on live television. Interestingly enough, the most popular event on the planet is actually the World Cup, a trophy that couldn’t be identified by most Americans.
Looking at the popularity through a PR perspective, we sum up this lack of interest quite easily. The U.S. just isn’t into soccer, nor will they ever be. Unfortunately, the most admired sport in the world is a mere oversight in the U.S. sports category, where internationally it undoubtedly reigns supreme.
Let’s talk numbers for a moment. The last Super Bowl accumulated an estimated 133 million viewers. According to About.com, one single match interested about 314 million viewers. Doesn’t sound too bad, huh? Well, it does if I mention that this number represents only the people who are watching at non-primetime viewing hours, whereas the Super Bowl is aired late evening on a Sunday.
So what can be done to publicize this year’s World Cup? Unfortunately, not much, considering the majority of the country couldn’t tell the difference between a red card and a yellow card. In our business, we’d refer to this client as someone with very low expectations of effective coverage. Globally, the World Cup will always maintain its crown, but in the U.S. the Super Bowl is king.
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