Report Buyer, the online destination for business intelligence for major industry sectors, has now added a new report analysing the UK sports market.
Sports Market: Market Review 2008-2012 reveals that while the Olympics was the most widely watched sporting event on television, involving 68.4% of the British population, only 1% of adults had ever attended an Olympics event in person.
The report shows that London 2012 offers the chance to remedy this low penetration. Key Note expects there will be a revival in expenditure on spectating, with the excitement surrounding the forthcoming London Olympics likely to be a contributing factor.
The ‘attended live’ results of the survey presented a very different picture, reinforcing the fact that most people witness most sports on television, rather than ‘live’ as spectators.
The study shows that World Cup football was watched on television by around two in three adults; however, only 3.3% of respondents had attended to watch in person. The Commonwealth Games also had a broad appeal, watched on television by 61.2% of adults.
However, it further shows that only 1.1% of adults had ever attended these Games, despite the fact that this event was hosted by Manchester in 2002 and Edinburgh in 1986 and 1970, casting some doubt over the extent to which the Olympics can increase live spectating of sport.
Authors of the report note that the gender gap is usually exaggerated for live spectating; that is, women are much less likely to attend a live sporting event than they are to watch it on television. As a result, the 11.4% average adult penetration rate for FA Cup finals rises to 19.2% among men, compared with just 4.1% for women.
The report forecasts that consumer expenditure on sport will grow by 13% between 2008 and 2012 – a fairly modest growth rate. Current demographic trends are favourable for sports participation, and London Olympics should also prove inspiring.
Sports Market: Market Review 2008-2012
Report Buyer product ID: KEY00017
Report Buyer Category: Leisure & Media
