One of the most powerful parts of our data set is the ability it gives brands of all kinds to build any audience and profile it against up to 25,000 data points. This covers everything from social media and device usage to marketing touchpoints and brand relationships.

For analysis of this kind, harmonized survey data at scale is the only way forward.

There are no inferences, no modeling, no gaps; what you get is a 360-view of the attitudes, behaviors and perspectives of real-life consumers, as reported by them.

As we continue to innovate, expanding this data set further is a top priority, enabling brands to dig even deeper into their target audiences.

Our latest wave of research marks one of the biggest ever increases to our taxonomy. This means key segments and categories have been expanded – from personal interests and products purchased to travel behaviors and sports. We’ve also introduced new mobile-first, dynamic question formats that allow us to cover more options than ever before.

New Insight into the Global Sports Fan

Our data now covers 30 different sports and 115 named sports leagues and events, with consistent data available across 40+ markets.

Deep-diving into individual sports or leagues is of course extremely revealing in itself. For example, 98% of Premier League fans may have a smartphone, but only 2 in 3 list it as their most important device.

Over 1 in 2 also own at least three other connected devices, emphasizing the multi-device and multi-screen nature of this audience.

That makes it understandable that over 50% of Premier League fans report using social media as they watch television.

Yet while YouTube and Facebook top the table as expected, they’re competing against a huge number of rivals – a sizable 38% of Premier League fans say used more than 10 different social media / messaging services last month.

Number of Social Platforms Visited Last Month Premier League fans (%)
0 1
1-2 5
3-4 13
5-6 28
7-8 28
9-10 20
11+ 38

Key Sporting Behaviors to Know

The wider sporting behaviors of Premier League fans unveil some interesting findings too.

Only 1 in 2 fans actually play soccer themselves, compared to 9 in 10 who regularly watch it on broadcast TV, and nearly 3 in 4 who watch it online.

The term armchair enthusiast is most definitely appropriate here, although significant numbers of Premier League fans are taking part in swimming (46%), badminton (39%) and cycling (37%).

What’s really key in our latest release is that you can undertake this type of analysis across 115 sets of fans – from Giro d’Italia to the PGA Tour to Wimbledon. And you can start to build a rich understand of how sports interweave with each other.

6 in 10 soccer fans are also following basketball, for example, while 2 in 3 follow the Summer Olympics and 1 in 3 follow F1 and the Tour de France.

An impressive 60% of Premier League fans in fact follow more than 10 other events/tournaments. They have a strong affinity with other soccer leagues and competitions as you would expect, but their interests stretch far beyond this.

 

Top 10 Other Sports Followed by Premier League Fans Premier League fans (%)
Basketball 60
Swimming 48
Tennis 46
Cycling 44
Motor sports 41
Athletics 35
Boxing 34
Badminton 33
Volleyball 31
Martial arts 30

We’re excited to release it to our clients and look forward to introducing many more updates like these in the coming months.To really understand consumers and their motivations, it’s hard to see how other types of data can compete – especially when you’re looking for a consistent global view.

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Written by

Jason is Chief Research Officer at GWI. He's the main man who leads our global team of analysts, delivering world-renowned research. He's an in-demand data junkie who you might see popping up on your telly screens every so often to show you what's actually happening in the lives of consumers.

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