how many people watched

Before this blog steers into the direction of basketball and baseball for the next few months, I want to visit the topic of the estimated number of people who watched Super Bowl 45.

Nielsen estimates that 111 million people watched the Super Bowl.  It was the most watched TV program ever.  In the US, a country of 300 million plus people, that number just doesn't seem right.

In thinking about writing this blog today, ESPN Radio host Colin Cowherd completely had my thoughts in mind in doubting that 111 million number.

Here are the basics about the Nielsen ratings

1. The ratings don't count children under the age of 18  (this dismisses 75 million people from the rating)
2. The ratings don't count people at bars, casinos, or restaurants (Cowherd estimates 25 million watched at one of these three)
3. The ratings only count one person per house.  If you have a family of four, they only count 1 for the television that was on.

Now if you could include the people omitted on that list, you can see that there are way more than 111 million who watched the game.