Playing fast and loose with the numbers, in the last year I’ve heard claims by gushing actresses and supposedly sane television talking heads that both the Academy Awards and the Superbowl garner 1 Billion worldwide viewers.
Poppycock.
I was going to complain about it, but the New Yorker has better writers than me:
http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2005/02/28/050228ta_talk_radosh
Sean Foote's Blog 