Fan Market - Overview of Findings

Overview Report

The American sports fan market is massive in scope. More than two-thirds (156,000,000) of all Americans age 16+ viewed or attended at least one sports event during the year. Nearly all of these fans (97.3%) attended or viewed at least one sport more than once.

To help sports marketers maximize their opportunities, SBRnet sponsored Sports Fan Market 2010, a nationwide survey of fan media and spectator patterns including attendance, TV viewership, online computer viewership and online mobile viewership. The survey was conducted in October-November, 2009 among a nationally representative sample of 12,000 consumers age 16 and over. A more detailed discussion of survey methodology is presented at the beginning of this report.

Two notable findings highlighted in the findings summarized below

  1. Variations between sports
    One cannot generalize across all sports about the type of individuals who are most likely to be fans or most likely to purchase sports logo apparel. Fan concentration within specific demographic groups, such as younger adults or gender, varies enough between sports to the extent that it would be dangerous to assume that fan marketing programs for one sport will be effective for another sport.
  2. Online viewership, to date, has had a modest impact on the overall fan audience size, but rather it increases frequency of exposure among existing fans.
    The great majority of online viewers also view sports on TV and/or attend these events. Depending on costs structures, this suggests that sponsors have an opportunity to significantly increase the frequency of their brand's exposure by sponsoring sports events online.

The highlights below reflect the size and scope of different segments of the fan market, as well as documenting demographic differences between various sports.

CONTENTS:

The Fan Market
Spectators (Attendees)
TV Viewers
Online Viewers
Purchasers of Sports Logo Apparel

Click here to see the report.

Sports Fan Market Links