New York Fashion Week vs. Super Bowl
The Kick Off

7 Things You Didn’t Know: NYFW & the Super Bowl

When February strikes, two major US events return to their respective stomping grounds, and earn their rightful spot in the public eye: the ultra fab, exclusively elite New York Fashion Week F/W16 and America’s #1 passion and most talked about event, Super Bowl 50. With two of the country's most anticipated spectacles ready to 'break' the internet, we were wondering how much clout each one has in various perspectives. From economical impact to food and beverage consumption-- numbers never lie. We did some hardcore sleuthing, and rounded up 7 of the craziest facts about NYFW and the Super Bowl you probably didn’t know before.

Clearly fashion is not just a pretty face.

Bringing in about 2x the revenue than the Super Bowl, NY fashion weeks (S/S and F/W) in total boasts a whopping $900 million. According to Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney, the fashion industry as a whole employs over 180,000 people, which pays $11 billion in wages, and generates about $2 billion in tax revenue per year. Bet you didn’t think the fashion industry had those numbers up its sleeve. Might want to move out of the way NFL… cause the CFDA ain’t playing around.

Super Bowl is the most watched broadcast in US TV history. Period.

When it comes to faithful fans, the Super Bowl is unbeatable. Nielsen’s data tells us that Super Bowl 49 was the most watched broadcast in US TV history, catching the attention of 114.4 million viewers! CNN Money suggests that Nielsen doesn’t account for groups at sports bars or viewing parties where more than the average ‘4 per household’ are watching the game, which could lead to an even higher reach. On the other hand, due to its exclusivity and invite-only tradition, New York Fashion Week across both seasons is typically attended by about 125,000 showgoers. Though with today’s technology and info-sharing capabilities, NYFW has been more accessible to a wider audience through livestream. Last year, over 2 million people tuned in from their couches and/or cubicles to get the inside look on the hottest trends and styles to hit the runway.

“Control your expenses better than your competition.”
(Sam Walton)

Did you know one little 30-sec commercial aired during the Super Bowl costs advertisers anywhere from $4.5 million to $5 million dollars?! That’s equivalent to about 25 Harry Winston 3-carat diamonds rings! But, with 114.4 million viewers watching TV the time these commercials are aired, that $5 million doesn’t seem too hard to justify in marketing ROI. Designers are also known to put down a pretty penny to make sure their shows captivate fashion’s elite. Achieving approval from industry influencers is the most important meausure of ROI in the fashion game afterall.

There’s no doubt with popularity comes demand. In NYFW’s case, designers are the ones doing the ‘demanding’ to get their publicity. On average, about 130 front row seats are available in a typical fashion show, and the people who are seated in those seats are just as crucial as the detail that goes into the clothes coming down the runway. Bringing in renown editors, top bloggers, 'IT' girls and celebrities gaurantee an incredible amount of press. In fact, some A-list influencers are paid up to $100,000 just to attend a show during fashion week. 

Comparatively, it seems like the team behind the Super Bowl is the one in control of the 'supply'. As influencers are offered a pretty large sum for their attendance during fashion week, celebrities that perform during half time are actually paid significantly less… a total of $0 dollars! Insane right?! Talent like Beyonce, Katy Perry, Madonna and NSYNC were paid nothing to perform on the prestigous Super Bowl stage. What’s more: Katy Perry was actually asked to provide a donation! Though, it is vital to realize the publicity value garnered from a performance at half time, which is equivalent to a 12-min commercial-- $120 million in monetary value! 

To eat, or not to eat… that is the question.

Yes, America is known as the country with the largest… appetite. And, it seems that the Super Bowl is the day where we feast the hardest. In a report issued by The National Chicken Council, Americans eat an estimated 1.25 billion chicken wings on game day. To put things into perspective: if laid side by side, 1.25 billion wings would circle the Grand Canyon 120 times! Apparently, Americans were also reported to consume about 325 million gallons of beer! Probably to wash down all of those chicken wings...

Not surprisingly, food and beverage consumption during NYFW is nowhere near the magnitude reported during the Super Bowl. With about 26,000 cups of espresso and 45,000 Fiber One bars consumed, those at NYFW aren’t really focused on food anyway.

Social media always speaks volumes

Ah, social media-- the truest form of clout. Measured by anyone who has an opinion, social conversations are always loud and fierce for both spectacles and continue to hit new heights in engagements and interactions every year. In 2015, #nyfw was reportedly used 31.6 million times in Instagram engagements. And in 2015, #superbowl alone garnered a total of 28.4 million tweets!