Sporting News Media Releases 2014 Know the Fan Report

NEW YORK, June 3, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Sporting News Media, a PERFORM Group company and one of the leading digital sports brands in the US, which owns SportingNews.com, the Sporting News (SN) ePlayer and the US edition of Goal.com, has today released the fourth annual survey into US sports media consumption. The US Know the Fan Report 2014, produced in conjunction with Kantar Media and SportBusiness Group, finds that the percentage of sports fans consuming content on mobile devices has doubled and the percentage of fans following sports on social media has more than doubled since the report was first issued in 2011.

The study, which surveyed over 1,000 American adults aged 18+ in February 2014, found nearly half of sports fans claim to use an Internet connected device at the same time as watching sports on TV. Most often these second-screen fans like to catch up on what's happening with other games being played via live text commentary and live scores (44%), access non-sports related content (38%), communicate with friends via a second screen device about the sports event on TV (21%), watch clips and highlights of other games being played (20%) and post comments to social networking platforms about the game/event they're watching (14%).

2014 has seen a significant increase in the number of fans following sports via social networking platforms where now over a third of fans consume sports on these platforms. Social networking fans are primarily younger fans, with 65% aged 18-34. Also fans typically use an average of two social networking platforms to follow sports. While Facebook (70%), YouTube (40%) and Twitter (24%) remain the most popular networks overall for fans to follow sports, fans are using them less as compared to last year to make use of newer social networking platforms such as Google+ (16%), Instagram (10%), Pinterest (8%) and Vine (6%).

While mobile consumption of sports content has doubled to 42% (from 21% in 2011), sports fans still primarily use a computer/laptop computer to access online sports content (65%), and just over one-third access content on these devices at least once a day (38%). Smartphones are more widely used (34%) than tablets (22%) for the second year running with smartphone usage still growing (up 10 percentage points) since 2013 and tablet usage remaining relatively flat (up 3 percentage points).

Among fans that watch sports online, live streaming remains the most popular content accessed (38%), followed by videos of game/event highlights (31%) and videos of sports news (27%). More than half of fans that watch videos of game/event highlights online (51%) and videos of player/manager/coach interviews (56%), do so via mobile device.

Sports news continues to be the most popular content read online (57%), followed by statistics and information (49%). This year has seen a greater demand for live text commentary of games (up 10 percentage points to 35%) as more fans are trying to keep up with events in real time.  

The majority of sports fans that read sports news in text format online do so via a computer/laptop computer (82%). However, nearly half of fans that follow sports on mobile devices prefer apps to sites (44%) – and about 1 in 4 use only apps (24%).

Sporting News Media CEO, Juan Delgado commented: "Our annual Know the Fan report is a valuable tool for understanding market progressions in the sports media landscape. Consumption on mobile devices and social platforms – both new and old – are creating demand for more quality and device agnostic video and editorial content. This type of industry insight will continue to not only shape our business, but the market as a whole, particularly as it relates to helping our partners reach millions of engaged and passionate sports fans in the US." 

FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE KNOW THE FAN REPORT 2014 PLEASE VISIT www.KNOWTHEFAN.com/USA

About Sporting News Media
Sporting News Media is a PERFORM Group company and a market leader in the creation, distribution and monetization of premium sports media content for digital audiences in the US and Canada, reaching an audience in excess of 30 million sports fans each month.

Sporting News Media owns and operates SportingNews.com, the US and Canadian editions of Goal.com and the Sporting News (SN) ePlayer, which syndicates professional and collegiate digital video from the NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, PGA Tours, MLS, WTA, ATP, UFC, SEC, Pac-12 and Big 12 conferences across 300 leading national and local publisher sites in North America.

Sporting News Media is ranked number one in digital sports video viewership in the US (comScore Video Metrix, April 2014) and seventh overall in digital sports media in the US (comScore Media Metrix, Multi-Platform, April 2014).

About PERFORM
PERFORM Group PLC is a FTSE 250 listed business and the world's leading digital sports content group. Through unrivalled global content collection, production and distribution capabilities PERFORM creates digital products that drive traffic, engagement and revenues for over 2,600 of the world's leading media and betting companies and enable brands to engage with over 180 million sports fans every month.
www.performgroup.com

About Kantar Sport
Kantar Sport is the world's leading sports and entertainment research specialists, delivering actionable insights to over 250 sports federations, rights holders, clubs/teams, venues, broadcasters and sponsors globally. A specialist agency in Kantar Media with over 50 offices worldwide, Kantar Sport provides market leading monitoring, evaluation and market research services that help clients make more informed decisions about how sport and entertainment can impact on consumer behavior in order to grow their business.
www.kantarmediauk.com/kantarsport.aspx

About SportBusiness Group
SportBusiness Group enables businesses in the sports sector to work more effectively and profitably by delivering timely, accurate, authoritative and actionable data, insight and analysis on which sound decisions can be based. Since 1996, it has been at the very heart of the business of sport, providing an indispensable resource for professionals working in every area of a complex, multi-disciplined and multi-faceted sector.
With the most experienced and best-connected analysts and journalists, SportBusiness Group is acknowledged worldwide as a trusted source of business intelligence and informed commentary.
http://www.sportbusiness.com

SOURCE Sporting News Media