American Consumers Root for the Underdogs: Gymnastics, Figure Skating, Men's Golf, High School Sports and Pro Boxing Rank High in Fan Interest

NEW YORK, Oct. 6, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- American consumers have typically shown unwavering support for the National Football League, Major League Baseball, the National Basketball Association, the National Hockey League, College Football and Basketball, NASCAR and the Olympics. In fact, the latest study from Scarborough Sports Marketing shows over half (53 percent) of American adults are "Avid Fans" of one of these sports. When we eliminate these time-honored sports from the conversation, we are left with an intriguing list of fan favorites which include sports like Figure Skating, Gymnastics, Men's Golf, High School Sports and Pro Boxing.* Scarborough Sports Marketing defines "Avid Fans" as consumers who are "very interested" and "Fans" as respondents who are "very, somewhat or a little interested" in a given sport.

American sports fans have been opening their minds and wallets to a host of diverse sports. Avid Fans of these sports are often characterized by distinct audience demographics. For instance, 73% of Avid Gymnastics Fans are female and 81% of Avid Figure Skating Fans are female.  This is a unique demographic makeup since Avid Fans of sports like the Olympics, Women's Tennis and the WNBA – classically "female friendly" sports – are only about 50% female. This notable demographic base helps explain findings such as:  Gymnastics Fans are 53% more likely than all American adults to schedule a spa day, 30% more likely to visit a jewelry store and 33% more likely to visit a bridal store. Similarly, Figure Skating Fans are 28% more likely to visit a florist and 27% more likely to visit a dry cleaner.

Another demographically interesting sport is Pro Boxing. Though European Soccer, Major League Soccer and Mexican Soccer are all leagues with large Hispanic fan bases, Pro Boxing is the non-soccer sports league with the highest percentage of Hispanics among its Avid Fans – 35%. Avid Pro Boxing Fans are also 58% more likely than all American adults to use their smartphones to: listen to or download music, 67% more likely to check sports scores and updates, and a staggering 110% more likely to watch free TV programs.

When we look at the ever-growing domain of competitive Motor Sports, we see another differentiating demographic. Formula One Racing attracts the highest percentage of Avid Fans with $100K in annual household income, more than any of the eight Motor Sports measured. Overall, Formula One Racing Fans are 7% more likely than other motor sports Fans to own homes with $500K+ market values, yet Formula One Racing Fans are also 25% more likely to hold blue collar jobs.  

"Looking beyond the obvious can represent new possibilities for advertisers, marketers and other sponsors to reach targeted or key demographic groups," said Bill Nielsen, vice president, Scarborough Sports Marketing. "The major sports, of course, allow marketers to reach the masses, but if you only focus there you are missing an important opportunity to market to the 37% of Americans who are very interested in sports that fall outside of the usual suspects."

A local market look shows West Palm Beach, FL represents the top local market** for Figure Skating, with 43% of adults characterized as Fans of the sport. Salt Lake City was overwhelmingly supportive of Gymnastics with 45% Fans and Harlingen, TX is the top market for Pro Boxing with 37% of the market considered Fans.

Scarborough Sports Marketing measures avidity levels for 41 different sports, and the table below summarizes the percentage of American adults who are "Fans" of each. Highlighted in blue are the sports that are consistently high ranking.

* Interviews were conducted between March and August 2011 and therefore may be influenced by seasonality.  

** Top local market among the 77 measured markets for adults 18+. For a full listing of measured markets please visit http://scarborough.com/schedule.php.

New Additions to the Scarborough Survey

The following avidity measures are new as of Release 1 2011 for Scarborough Sports Marketing: Gymnastics, Figure Skating, College Baseball, Pro Boxing, Formula One Racing, Arena/Indoor Football, College Hockey and Mexican Soccer.

If you are interested in additional Scarborough Sports Marketing reports, please contact Brad Sherer, 480.659.7395/[email protected].

About Scarborough Sports Marketing

Scarborough Sports Marketing (www.scarboroughsportsmarketing.com, [email protected]) measures local and national consumer and lifestyle information by interviewing over 210,000 adults (18+) in 77 Top-Tier Markets, including all professional sports markets. Scarborough sports measurements include fan avidity; multi-media measures including sports viewing and listening; corporate sponsorship information including fans' shopping and product/service usage; and leisure activities. Scarborough delivers twice-yearly updates of its local market reports to a diverse client base, spanning all major media, advertisers and their agencies. Scarborough Sports Marketing is a division of Scarborough Research, which is a joint venture between Arbitron Inc. and The Nielsen Company.

SOURCE Scarborough Sports Marketing