Synovate puts sport under the microscope

Professional sport is a huge and growing global business. With billions of people regularly tuning into their favourite teams and events, no marketer can afford to ignore sports.

For this edition of In:fact more than 9,000 responses were gathered in the US, Germany, Brazil, India, Canada, Russia, France, China and Korea regarding sports preferences and priorities. Of these, only 17% of respondents expressed a general lack of interest in sports.

Interviewees were asked a series of questions about the importance of professional spectator sports in their lives. You can read some of the more intriguing findings below.



Fan: short for fanatic

Competition, conflict, fighting spirit, the will to win - that's what sport is ultimately all about. Our survey revealed a significant percentage of sports enthusiasts are so dedicated that they won't stop watching until you pry the remote control from their cold, dead fingers.

The Russians appear particularly dictatorial. Nearly 74% who have recently attended live sporting events say that no one dares to change the channel away from their favourite sports at home. The Chinese are close behind with 69% and then India, with 67%.

Korean, American and German fans are more tolerant of channel changing, with 44%, 47% and 50% respectively saying no one dares change channels away from the big game (the high number of homes with more than one television set in these nations might affect these results).

Bowled over in India

The survey was strongly impacted by our findings in India. It's clear that any marketer wishing to make a pitch there must consider a cricket pitch. A convincing nine out of ten (93%) Indians surveyed said cricket was their favourite televised sport, pushing it into second overall place in the survey.

India's huge population, combined with the lack of global critical mass in any sport apart from soccer, means that cricket may possibly be the world's second most popular televised sport (and one well off the radar of US marketers).

Pepsi appears to have recognised this. Nearly half (49%) of Indian respondents volunteered Pepsi when asked to mention which brand comes to mind as a sports sponsor. Coca-Cola only achieved 13% recognition. Score one for Pepsi in the ongoing vicious Indian cola war.

See who at which game?

TV is where the real action is in sports, but attendance at live events is probably a more accurate indicator of the depth of a fan's passion. Overall, 23% of respondents said they had attended professional live sporting events in the three months previous to the survey.

The most popular live sporting event was soccer by far, followed by cricket. American football only appeared in sixth place, indicating the game is more beloved by couch potatoes.

Live events are bigger in China than in any other nation surveyed. 55% of Chinese respondents had attended sports events. Of these, 58% saw a football match and 30% saw a basketball game. Transpose the figures to China's huge population - the potential is awesome.

Some companies have already spotted that potential. The survey found that 31% of Chinese sports fans buy clothing and equipment brands used by their favourite athlete. This goes a long way towards explaining Adidas' efforts to dam the flood of fake David Beckham jerseys in China.

The beautiful game is the world's most popular

For marketers seeking access to large global television audiences, the biggest kicks come from soccer with 24% of respondents reporting it to be their favourite televised sport. Perhaps unsurprisingly, soccer scored big everywhere except North America and India.

FIFA plays in a very minor league in the US, with only 1% of respondents listing soccer as their favourite televised game. The US was the only country where zero respondents reported having attended a live professional soccer game within the previous three months.

American football rah rah rah!

No wonder a Superbowl spot is so expensive. The sport came up as the world's third most popular televised sport, marginally more so than baseball. Not only did 37% of American respondents cheer for American Football, 11% of Canadians put the sport first.

The only other nation with any sort of following for American football was in China of all places. Here, 3% of respondents marked gridiron as their favourite televised sport. This might be a cue for the NFL to embark on a campaign to tackle China audiences, like the NBA has.

Really mad about sports

The French seem to get more steamed up about sports than anyone, with 76% admitting they had become embroiled in a heated argument over the performance of their favourite teams or athletes. The Canadians are the most relaxed - only 24% ever lose their cool over sport.

Perhaps the truest measure of sports fanaticism is reflected in the number of respondents who admitted calling in to work sick after staying up all night watching their favourite sport. India came on top by far - 24% of respondents confessed to taking bogus sport-inspired sick days.

Over a third of Indians had no problems with checking sports results at work either. The Russians are similarly sports sneaky... 16% reported sick over sports and a whopping 78% find it convenient to check sports results at work.

At the other end of the scale are the Germans, of whom only 4% report in sick, and 14% check scores at work.