A picture is worth one thousand words, or ten thousand words?
I’d say ten—and would reference the original ad that made this term popular from the 1920s:
The two advertisements which gave rise to the popular phrase “One picture is worth ten thousand words” appeared in the advertising trade journal then called Printers’ Ink (now known as Marketing/Communications).
December 8, 1921 (pp. 96-97) “One Look is Worth A Thousand Words“. This ad talks generally about the benefits about advertising with pictures on street cars.
March 10, 1927 (pp. 114-115) “One Picture is Worth Ten Thousand Words“. This ad uses the specific example of a baking soda ad campaign seemingly done by Barnard’s firm. The basic message is the same as the earlier ad, though Barnard would have hoped it to be more compelling with his revised “Chinese proverb.”
Source:
http://www2.cs.uregina.ca/~hepting/research/web/words/history.html