Super Bowl Sunday is rapidly approaching, and I can predict with certainty, one outcome of the game... everyone will be watching. Well, almost everyone.

Most of us know the Super Bowl generates big numbers. But, when you take a minute to really think about them, they are mind-boggling. For example, about half of all American households tune into the game year after year after year. 

To put that into context, of the Top 50 highest-rated TV programs since 1966, the Super Bowl claims 24 places. Baseball isn't even in the same ballpark. (Sorry, I couldn't resist that one.) Specifically, only one baseball game, Game 6 of the 1980 World Series, even cracks the Top 100. (And it's tied for 99th place.) 

The revenue generated for the network airing the telecast is also huge. At $2-3 million per :30 spot, Super Bowl XLIV will generate about $150 million in sales for CBS.

As someone who makes his living by identifying target audiences and understanding how they consume media, one of the most interesting things to me about the Super Bowl is its universal appeal. In order to generate those huge ratings, the Super Bowl has to cut across almost all social-economic segments of our population. In doing so, it stands alone among media properties.

If you were to look at MRI data and crosstab Super Bowl viewing against every demographic or psychographic segment you can think of, you'd find a flat index (90-110) for almost everything. Moreover, you'd be very hard-pressed to find any segment with an index below 80 or above 120.

That's exactly why you see the advertisers you do in the Super Bowl. Aside from new brands trying to make a name for themselves, Super Bowl advertisers are companies who target "everyone"... beer, soft drinks, snack foods and auto-makers. And for those companies whose target really is "everyone", an audience of 95 million viewers translates into a reasonable CPM; even at $3 million for a :30 spot.

Of course, most companies don't (and shouldn't) target "everyone". If that statement applies to your business, let me suggest that you limit your Super Bowl participation to joining me and everyone else (almost) in tuning in and watching Sunday's game.