Jun 17, 2010

TV ratings (and other random stats) in perspective [charts]

Inspired by a stat-heavy article in Time called Why World Cup TV Ratings Are So Strong, I created the chart below showing the ratings for a number of major TV events. Blue bars are sporting events and maroonish bars are everything else.




Then, a few minutes later, I saw the article Record Number of US Kids Facing Summer of Hunger and was inspired to add a few more random stats to the chart...



It fascinates me that 52% of the US population uses Google every month and 43% visit Facebook. On the one hand that seems impressively large, but on the other hand, where is everyone else? How is it that nearly half of the population do not use Google every month, and how is it that 65% of the US population skips out of watching the Super Bowl? Who are those people and what are they doing instead?