Monday, July 24, 2006

A billion viewers?

Bord Bia (a branch of the Irish government) claims that one billion people will watch the Ryder Cup this September. Hmmm. I'm pretty sure that's a slight exaggeration. I've heard similar figures thrown around a lot, but I'd love to see a more accurate assessment. My guess is that the audience will be closer to 20 million (5 million in the US, 8 million¹ in the EU and 7 million the rest of the world), but I can't find any stats to support any estimate. I hope Bord Bia didn't pay for the rights based on an audience of a billion potential Kerrygold customers.

¹Even this is, I'm sure, an exaggeration seeing as the Ryder Cup is on a subscription channel in the EU (or is it just in Britain & Ireland?).