What can Magic Johnson teach us about advanced TV advertising? He has appeared in many commercials over the years (including AT&T, Coca Cola and MasterCard), but it is his sporting career that gives us important insights into how performances vary and how even hall of famers struggle to maintain the same level of results year after year. And this struggle to maintain performance applies to many things, including TV shows.

Earvin ‘Magic’ Johnson burst onto the scene in 1979, becoming the first and only rookie to win the NBA Finals MVP award. He also holds the NBA record for assists per game (APG), averaging 11.2 across his career in regular season play. When we look at his APG stats by year, we see he improved through the first few years of his career, then hit a high point, culminating in a league-leading 13.1 APG in 1983-4. Heading into 1984-5 it would have been natural to think that he might continue improving, with an APG of 14 or even 15 as the logical next step. But it didn’t happen like that: Magic performed well in the following years, but he never got above 13 again. Read More