GWI Audience Report: World Cup Fans

With the start of the FIFA World Cup 2014 now just a couple of days away, today we launch an audience report dedicated to those who say they’ll be tuning in to watch as many matches live as possible (download a free copy of the report here).

Globally, an impressive 68% of online adults aged 16-64 say they will be following at least some World Cup games – with 24% being Real-Time Fans (those who will watch as many games live as they possibly can). This group is dominated by men and 25-34s, while people who are married, have children and come from the top income group are also strongly represented.

If we look at attitudes among this audience, it’s clear why they’re so important for advertisers: they over-index heavily when it comes to keeping up with the latest trends, interacting with their favorite brands and wanting to stand out from the crowd. They also perceive themselves as being adventurous and affluent and have one of the most positive outlooks about the global economy.

They’re highly social, too. Real-Time Fans have the highest Klout scores, have the most people following them on networks like Twitter and are more likely to be using all of the major social platforms. They also spend a longer period of time each day devoted to networking and have a notable lead for behaviors such as sharing photos and posting comments about their daily activities. Outside of China, Facebook is the most popular service of all: 88% of Real-Time Fans have an account and 52% use it actively each month. Google+, YouTube and Twitter come next, all being regularly used by about 30% of Real-Time Fans.

To explore these areas in more detail – or to see how World Cup viewers will be using their mobiles and interacting with brands – please download the full report.