Who is the biggest global icon?

[inquisitive]

the post about viewership for NBA Finals on ABC and World Cup on Univision is far too small...if only 20mil average are watching these , then it left out probably 100mil of Chinese viewers...so it must mean the Chinese are watching it on their own broadcast(must have bought rights to broadcast/rebroadcast on CCTV) or that ABC or Univision forgot to include those viewers in their calculations.

I'm curious about ratings in Korea and Japan where soccer is even more popular then ever.

the numbers were US only.

that sounds more like it ....they should get a global ratings from European, Africa, and Asia viewership to include along with U.S, Latin America, and Canada to really get a better idea.

[Calvin Klein]

Again gets this over 2 billion people tuned in to watched Usain Bolt capture the 100 meter gold medal in London, Imean 2 frickin billion people, how's that for global awareness?

That is an argument.

Google search results:

"Kobe Bryant" (2,430,000) vs. "Usain Bolt" (141,000)
Kobe (10,700,000) vs. Usain (2,320,000)

That's another argument

So you think every person in the world has internet access.

[Panathinaikos]

Simple
Messi he is the best in football that is the most popular sport in the world

[pross]

Again gets this over 2 billion people tuned in to watched Usain Bolt capture the 100 meter gold medal in London, Imean 2 frickin billion people, how's that for global awareness?

Google search results:

"Kobe Bryant" (2,430,000) vs. "Usain Bolt" (141,000)
Kobe (10,700,000) vs. Usain (2,320,000)

That's another argument

Strange, I got 99,600,000 for Usain Bolt and 73,100,000. You must be using a different google.

Yeah don't know where that guy got his results from because they're wrong. I got the same as you.

Also just putting just "Kobe" will obviously give you more results than Usain, as Kobe is city in Tokyo and also a popular beef.

[peZt]

There's a big difference between popularity of someone like Woods,to a lesser extent Federer, even Bolt and messi, Ronaldo and to a lesser extent Kobe.
Woods was known, respected in some circles, notorious after the scandal. But frankly noone really cared about him.
On the other hand there's Messi, a guy idolized by hundreds of millions, hated with passion by millions. There might be a similar number of people that know them (i dont really think it's close), but there's a big difference in involvement of those people.

Exactly. I am Turkish and live in Germany and here a lot of people know the name Tiger Woods but no one cares about him. Im sure many people who know his name probably don't even know he is a golf player.
On the other hand kids all over the world discuss who is the better player between Messi and Ronaldo.
So they are no doubt number 1 and 2.
Out of that list Usain Bolt is probably number 3.

[maxpower88]

It's Messi, and there's no arguing that.

And to the guy that said Usain Bolt's 200m sprint was watched by 2 billion people, lol wut? That's not true at all, it's a completely outlandish claim.

[AfricanSensation]

Really? 27% people in here actually think Kobe is the world biggest sports icon right now? Wow, talk about tunnel vision lol
You guys need to travel a bit!
Messi, Bolt and Tiger Woods have a case, thats it.

[52-12-7]

Really? 27% people in here actually think Kobe is the world biggest sports icon right now? Wow, talk about tunnel vision lol
You guys need to travel a bit!
Messi, Bolt and Tiger Woods have a case, thats it.

Well, this is a basketball forum, so people are biased towards its sport and players. Then there are Kobe groupies who thinks he is a God...

[hype_2004]

It's Messi, and there's no arguing that.

And to the guy that said Usain Bolt's 200m sprint was watched by 2 billion people, lol wut? That's not true at all, it's a completely outlandish claim.

Hey bud how are you? type in "Usain Bolt London 100 meters worldwide/global tv audience", and read the papers.

[Archerbro]

Messi, and how the hell did people vote for Lebron?

[maxpower88]

It's Messi, and there's no arguing that.

And to the guy that said Usain Bolt's 200m sprint was watched by 2 billion people, lol wut? That's not true at all, it's a completely outlandish claim.

Hey bud how are you? type in "Usain Bolt London 100 meters worldwide/global tv audience", and read the papers.

Hey bud, only dailymail.co.uk is reporting that, and they're pretty much a British tabloid paper. They don't even say how they got that ridiculous number.

The opening ceremony only had an estimated viewership of 900 million people. Lmfao at 2 billion people.

[RondoToKG]

hmmm, no idea who Messi is.


I went with Lebron.

[pross]

It's Messi, and there's no arguing that.

And to the guy that said Usain Bolt's 200m sprint was watched by 2 billion people, lol wut? That's not true at all, it's a completely outlandish claim.

Hey bud how are you? type in "Usain Bolt London 100 meters worldwide/global tv audience", and read the papers.

Hey bud, only dailymail.co.uk is reporting that, and they're pretty much a British tabloid paper. They don't even say how they got that ridiculous number.

The opening ceremony only had an estimated viewership of 900 million people. Lmfao at 2 billion people.

Most reports have it over the billion which is more than any other sporting event could even dream of.

I'm from Australia and was sailing around Croatia and managed to watch it in a small restaurant and everyone stopped eating just to see him run. The locals were going crazy for him, it was like nothing I've ever seen. Now let's switch this for a game 7 NBA finals match, I can guarantee A. No one would care if it was on and B. less than 10% of those people would know who the eff Kobe Bryant is.

This is not just Croatia by the way. I was in a sports bar in Spain for the gold medal game between USA and Spain and most people were watching English Premier League compared to bball.

[TomJoad]

This is not just Croatia by the way. I was in a sports bar in Spain for the gold medal game between USA and Spain and most people were watching English Premier League compared to bball.

Small sample size. I'm not saying basketball in Spain is great in a regular basis but the Olympics finals had a 5.4M audience (44.9% share). Of course more than a friggin english football match. Btw, English Premier League did not start until August 18.

[Arp590]

Using the argument of how many "Fans" a sport has is terrible or how many viewers watched an event is terrible.
Just because someone isn't a "Fan" of basketball, doesn't mean they don't know who Kobe is.

[Cleveland Cavs]

hmmm, no idea who Messi is.


I went with Lebron.

Just dont vote then if you dont even know who the people are on the list

[Stills12]

Using the argument of how many "Fans" a sport has is terrible or how many viewers watched an event is terrible.
Just because someone isn't a "Fan" of basketball, doesn't mean they don't know who Kobe is.

It's not a terrible argument. If you are a fan of a certain sport (or watch it casually) than the chances of you being aware of the best and more popular athletes in that sport would naturally increase. And since soccer has more fans than basketball by quiet a bit, it can be safely assumed more people would know a soccer player than a basketball player.

[Cleveland Cavs]

Using the argument of how many "Fans" a sport has is terrible or how many viewers watched an event is terrible.
Just because someone isn't a "Fan" of basketball, doesn't mean they don't know who Kobe is.

It's not a terrible argument. If you are a fan of a certain sport (or watch it casually) than the chances of you being aware of the best and more popular athletes in that sport would naturally increase. And since soccer has more fans than basketball by quiet a bit, it can be safely assumed more people would know a soccer player than a basketball player.

+ Everyone is talking about soccer so even if you dont watch the sport you would know the name!
Messi > Bryant

[Yuri Vaultin]

Using the argument of how many "Fans" a sport has is terrible or how many viewers watched an event is terrible.
Just because someone isn't a "Fan" of basketball, doesn't mean they don't know who Kobe is.

So, who is the most famous cricket player right now?

I can guarantee more people are talking about him around the world and not Kobe than vice versa.

[Hijinks]

Most reports have it over the billion which is more than any other sporting event could even dream of.

Except maybe the Fifa World Cup, especially the Finals?

The 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa™ was shown in every single country and territory on Earth, including Antarctica and the Arctic Circle, generating record-breaking viewing figures in many TV markets around the world. The in-home television coverage of the competition reached over 3.2 billion people around the world, or 46.4 per cent of the global population, based on viewers watching a minimum of over one minute of coverage. This represents an eight per cent rise on the number of viewers recorded during the 2006 FIFA World Cup Germany™.

http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/archive/southafrica2010/organisation/media/newsid=1473143/index.html

It should definitely be a soccer player.