FAN REVOLUTION GLOBAL FANS IN THE INFORMATION AGE - NIELSEN SPORTS

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FAN REVOLUTION GLOBAL FANS IN THE INFORMATION AGE - NIELSEN SPORTS
NIELSEN SPORTS

FAN REVOLUTION
GLOBAL FANS IN THE INFORMATION AGE
FAN REVOLUTION GLOBAL FANS IN THE INFORMATION AGE - NIELSEN SPORTS
CONTENTS
                                   1 | EVOLUTION                                       08
                                      How did we get to here? Why are fans fans?

                                   2 | R EVOLUTION                                      12
                                       What are the seven fan groups?
                                       Which activations work best?

                                   3|W
                                      HAT NEXT                                          26

                                   FAN REVOLUTION
                                   The importance of the fan to rights-holders, sponsors and the entire
                                   world of sport can never be underestimated. Indeed, the relationship
                                   between fans and teams, and fans and brands, is at the core of
                                   Nielsen Sports’ work.

                                                                                                                         THE
    Mike Wragg
    EVP, Global Head of Research   This ‘Fan Revolution’ report examines the global fan picture detailing                                          The word ‘fan’ – a devotee, aficionado or supporter
    Nielsen Sports
                                   the current status of those relationships, shaped as they are by major                                          of a particular activity or person – is believed either
                                   advances in technology, changing societal and media consumption
                                                                                                                                                   to be a shortening of ‘fanatic’, a word with religious

                                                                                                                     ORIGINS
                                   trends and by the increasing sophistication of fan groups around
                                   the world. These are major changes, shifts which require a fresh
                                                                                                                                                   etymology which came to be associated with baseball,
                                   approach in terms of understanding fan behaviour and attitudes.                                                 or ‘the fancy’, an old English expression which referred
                                                                                                                                                   to followers of boxing. As a professional global industry

                                                                                                                           OF
                                   In particular, it is clear that the relationships between fans and                                              has grown up around sport the definition of the ‘fan’
                                   brands have become more nuanced and complex; expectations have
                                                                                                                                                   has, inevitably, become more complex and nuanced, as
                                   changed, as fans become more focused on authentic experiences as
                                                                                                                                                   has the desire to understand precisely what makes fans

                                                                                                                    THE ‘FAN’
                                   participants in a fragmenting media world – and fans are empowered
                                   as never before, gaining their own voice through social media.                                                  tick. Rights-holders want more of them and brands want
                                                                                                                                                   to be able to tap into them but in order to maximise
                                   Fan DNATM is Nielsen Sports’ response. A pioneering behavioural
                                                                                                                                                   commercial returns, it is necessary to closely examine
                                   approach, it helps rights-holders and brands identify the type of fan
                                                                                                                                                   their attitudes and behaviour – and how they have
                                   most likely to react most positively to sponsorship; vital information
                                   as sponsorship is bought, sold and activated around the world.                                                  evolved over time.

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FAN REVOLUTION GLOBAL FANS IN THE INFORMATION AGE - NIELSEN SPORTS
THE REVOLUTION IS UNDERWAY                                                                             The last decade has seen seismic changes in technology,
                                                                                                       giving fans the ability to interact directly with players,
                                                                                                       teams, events and brands. No longer is sport, and fandom,
                                                                                                       just about watching: There has been a move from a

THE WAY WE WATCH, ENJOY, ENGAGE AND INTERACT WITH SPORT AND                                            passive to interactive relationship, changing people’s
                                                                                                       expectations and demands. This new dynamic requires a
EVERYTHING THAT SURROUNDS IT IS CHANGING BEFORE OUR EYES.                                              deeper understanding of fan behaviours and attitudes.

                                                                         October 2014

                                                                        Samsung White of Korea takes
                                                                        on China’s Star Horn Royal Club
                                                                        in the final of the 2014 League of
                                                                        Legends World Championship.
                                                                        40,000 esports fans are in
                                                                        attendance in Seoul, watching the
                                                                        teams battle it out in a stadium
                                                                        built for the 2002 FIFA World Cup.
                                                                        Professional gaming has grown
     July 2014                                                          rapidly over the past decade,
                                                                        since technology enabled the
    Germany play Argentina in the final of the FIFA World Cup at        sport to exist: 27 million unique
    Rio de Janeiro’s Maracana, the biggest game in what for the         viewers watch the 2014 final,
    past century and more has been the biggest sport in the world.      while the competition as a whole
    Football has grown exponentially over that time – and from the      sees 288 million cumulative daily
    first FIFA World Cup in 1930 to Brazil 2014, which sees record      unique impressions, according to
    audiences and record digital engagement.                            organiser Riot Games.

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FAN REVOLUTION GLOBAL FANS IN THE INFORMATION AGE - NIELSEN SPORTS
1                                                                    EVOLUTION
                                                                     HOW DID WE GET TO HERE? WHY ARE FANS FANS?
                                                                     Technology is changing everything. What being a ‘fan’ means –
                                                                     the long-established pattern of behaviour we associate with fans –
                                                                     is being disrupted by a raft of new sport and entertainment formats
                                                                     and new ways of consuming them. Rights holders, broadcasters
                                                                     and sponsors need a map for this new global fan landscape.

                                                                     Nielsen Sports’ Fan DNA™, conceived in conversations between
                                                                     Nielsen Sports and some of the world’s largest rights-holders and
                                                                     sponsors and honed through dialogue with literally millions of

                                                                                                                                               1 MILLION
                                                                     fans over the past few years, is designed to help brands acquiring
                                                                     sponsorship packages or rights-holders creating sales propositions
                                                                     make more targeted and profitable decisions.

                                                                     Through meta-analysis of the huge volume of fan interviews
                                                                     conducted across the world over the past decade, a vast data              FAN INTERVIEWS CONDUCTED
                                                                     mountain has been used to develop a unique piece of behavioural           EACH YEAR BY NIELSEN SPORTS
                                                                     research. We’ve also relied heavily on thousands of in depth
                                                                     “fan journey” interviews across the UK, Germany, USA, China, Japan,
                                                                     Australia, Malaysia and Mexico – a full account of fans relationship
                                                                     with sports and the brands that support it from childhood through
                                                                     to the development of the combination of attitudes and consumer
                                                                     behaviour which define them as a fan now.

                                                                     Despite the incredibly diverse group of markets selected, seven clearly
                                                                     differentiated groups of fans emerged – each one with their own
                                                                     distinctive characteristics, behavioural tendencies and attitudes to
                                                                     sport and sponsors.

                                                                     Each of these groups contains both men and women of all ages and
                                                                     incomes. And the most ‘avid’ fans are also spread between a number
                                                                     of these groups. In fact, we found that self-identified avidity was a
                                                                     relatively poor predictor of the strength of response to sponsorship.
                                                                     Nielsen Sports’ has developed and honed an algorithm which can
                                                                     predict the Fan DNA™ segment of any fan within a minute, and all our
                                                                     quantitative research (more than a million interviews each year) now
                                                                     carries this technology. Our global understanding of fan behaviour is
                                                                     getting deeper and deeper, helping sports teams, leagues, events
                                                                     and brands not only make better sponsorship investment decisions,
                                                                     but also to design much more effective communication and
    French fans take in the action at                                activation initiatives.
    the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.

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FAN REVOLUTION GLOBAL FANS IN THE INFORMATION AGE - NIELSEN SPORTS
THE 7 BEHAVIOURAL SEGMENTS
                                                                                                                              FOCUS ON FAN STORIES
                            GLOBAL AVERAGE %
                                                                                                                              WHERE DOES SOCIAL MEDIA FIT IN?
                                                                                                                              ‘How much is a post worth?’ ‘What’s your engagement rate?’             compare their ‘score update’ posts against their ‘player Q and
                                                                                                                              ‘How many “likes” have I got?’ Rather than trying to approach          As’. That information allows them to approach partners and
                                                                                                                              fan engagement via social media this way, Nielsen Sports has           work out which Fan Stories are best-matched to which sponsor,

                                                               13%                                                            developed Fan Stories as a means of identifying, categorising
                                                                                                                              and ultimately monetising the many types of social media
                                                                                                                                                                                                     allowing them to build digital assets into sponsorships in
                                                                                                                                                                                                     a more sophisticated way – score updates ‘brought to you
                                                           GAME EXPERT                                                        activities undertaken by sports teams.                                 by Audi’, for example. Audi, in turn, have a launch-pad for
                                                                                                                                                                                                     activating based on their own sponsorship objectives, as
                                       9%                                                   18%                               Fan Stories are types of content, everything from a simple             opposed to a ‘tweet this’ and ‘post there’ approach.
                                TREND POSITIVE                                                                                score update, to team announcements, event highlights,
                                                                                             BUSY                             player statistics, archive content and behind the scenes               It also gives teams the opportunity to optimise their major

                                                                  26%                                                 11%
                                                                                                                              features – a major football club like Premier League champions
                                                                                                                              Chelsea have over 60.
                                                                                                                                                                                                     digital platforms – Chelsea, for example, receive more
                                                                                                                                                                                                     engagements per follower via Instagram. Game commentary
                                                              CONNECTION                                              CYNIC                                                                          and score updates play well on Twitter, while, by contrast, the

                                     18%                         FAN                                                          By auditing a club’s digital and social media output, across           content which works best on Instagram tends to be behind-

                                   ARMCHAIR                                                  6%                               web, mobile, app, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter (and
                                                                                                                              whatever social media platform is next on the horizon), Nielsen
                                                                                                                                                                                                     the-scenes content, such as footage from training sessions.

                                     FAN                                                DISENGAGED
                                                                                                                              Sports is able to determine a club’s digital assets – and identify     Understanding where to place the right content, at the right
                                                                                                                              which are the most effective in terms of fan engagement.               times, allows teams to maximise engagements and, where
                                                                                                                              Rather than focusing on the number of Facebook ‘likes’ and             possible, direct fans back to official websites, where the
                            Source: Repucom Fan DNA Survey, August 2014.
                                                      TM
                                                                                                                              trying to examine what that means, sports properties can now           advertising revenue is club-owned.
                            Total for eight countries (USA, UK, Germany, Mexico, Malaysia, China, Japan, Australia)

                                                                                                                              VARIATION OF INTEREST IN DIFFERENT SOCIAL MEDIA FAN STORIES
                            SPONSOR BRAND RECOMMENDATION
                                                                                                                                                                        Score updates                              62%
“H AVE YOU EVER ACTUALLY                                                   Cynic
                                                                                                                                                                       Event highlights                   45%
                                                  Disengaged
  RECOMMENDED A SPONSOR                                                     1%                                                                                   Team announcements                      39%
  BRAND TO A FRIEND?”                                        3%                               Connection Fans
                                  Armchair Fans                                               51%                                                                    Goal of the month             27%
                                               8%

      82%
                                        Busy
                                                                                                                                                                       Player statistics           26%
                                                               Longer name
                                        10%                         OFlines
                                                                        THAT 18%:
                                                               in two                                                                                           Historical/past content            25%
NO                                                               SPONSOR BRAND
                                                               00%

      18%
                                     Game                            ADVOCATES                                                                                         Event statistics        24%
                                    Experts
                                          8%                                                                                                                 Player/Team of the month         21%
YES
                                                                                                                                                                Player/Team interviews       19%
                                                                           Trend Positives
                                                                           18%                                                                                        Player birthdays             11%
                                                                                                                                                                                                         May 2015 – respondents asked to rank top three Fan Stories by interest.

                            Source: Repucom Fan DNA   TM
                                                           Survey, August 2014.

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FAN REVOLUTION GLOBAL FANS IN THE INFORMATION AGE - NIELSEN SPORTS
GLOBAL MARKET                                                          A question of age: Baseball, with its male-dominated demographic, has traditionally been
                                                                                           the dominant sport in Japan, but the announcement that the country would co-host the 2002
                                                                                           FIFA World Cup and the launch of the J-League in the 1990s altered the landscape significantly.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                    JAPAN
                    PERSPECTIVES                                                           The J-League saw the emergence of more regional clubs; whereas baseball has traditionally
                                                                                           been a big city sport, football has been able to reach more outlying areas. The ‘home town’
                                                                                           concept took a leap as Japanese sport decentralised from Tokyo. The 2002 FIFA World Cup
                    The global averages for each of the seven behavioural segments         attracted a large female demographic, with more casual fans supporting the national team and
                    (shown on page 7) show that Connection Fans – those whose primary      ultimately attending J-League matches. Japan’s ageing population (hence the high proportion
                    motivation for engaging with sport is about sharing an experience      of Armchair Fans), however, provides rights-holders with an ongoing challenge, with the Tokyo
                    with friends or family – are the largest group, followed by Armchair   2020 Olympics seen as a significant moment in the country’s continued sporting development
                    Fans and the Busy fan group.                                           – just as the 1964 edition ignited Japanese interest in Olympic sports.

                    But the Fan DNATM research revealed significant market differences
                                                                                                                  TREND POSITIVE 7% GAME EXPERT 12% CONNECTION FAN 6%
                    in the way sports fans have evolved and the behaviours displayed
                    towards sponsorship – from the high proportion of Connection Fans
                                                                                                                  ARMCHAIR FAN 22% BUSY 15% DISENGAGED 23% CYNIC 7%
                    in the USA to the abundance of Armchair Fans in Japan, to Germany’s
                    greater proportion of Game Experts; vital information for brands
                    and rights-holders looking to target specific pockets of a fan base.
                    Repucom, drawing on its global expertise, examined the development
                    of fans and fandom across several major markets.                       USA                                    Friends and family first: Technology has been the biggest driver in the evolution of US sports
                                                                                                                                  fans over the past two decades – mobile phones and Wi-Fi access are as essential as food
                                                                                                                                  and water; stadiums and teams are working out how best to deploy technological solutions
                                                                                                                                  to aid the fan experience in-venue. The notion of community, however, has been woven into
                                                                                                                                  the US sports fan’s mindset for far longer, borne out by the proportion of Connection Fans:
                                                                                                                                  in American football the longstanding general weekend structure of high school games on
                                                                                                                                  Fridays, college games on Saturdays and the National Football League (NFL) on Sundays, plays
                                                                                                                                  into that desire to come together with friends and family to watch sport. The attention spans
                                                                                                                                  of US sports fans are shrinking: they are engaged in other activities, like texting and surfing the
                                                                                                                                  internet, and have less patience for breaks in the action.

                                                                                                                                                       TREND POSITIVE 14% GAME EXPERT 16% CONNECTION FAN 16%
                                                                                                                                                       ARMCHAIR FAN 8% BUSY 8% DISENGAGED 11% CYNIC 16%
     “FAN DNATM IS A PIONEERING BEHAVIOURAL APPROACH,
       THAT IDENTIFIES THE FANS ACROSS THE WORLD WHO
       WILL RESPOND STRONGLY TO DIFFERENT SORTS OF
                                                                                           From factory to football: Fan culture in Germany, much like the UK, has its roots in the
                                                                                           country’s working class. In football, local businesses and factories developed their own clubs –
                                                                                           Bayer 04 Leverkusen is a prime example – which developed into city or neighbourhood hubs.
                                                                                                                                                                                                           GERMANY
       SPONSORSHIP ACTIVATION – THE MISSING LINK BETWEEN                                   The fan culture grew through attending games, local chants, regular meetings – ‘Stammtisch’
                                                                                           – and dressing in team jerseys, scarves and caps. New Game Experts are being created all
       WHAT FANS SAY, AND WHAT THEY ACTUALLY DO”                                           the time. Being a fan of a club has tended to be passed on from generation to generation,
                                                                                           whilst the popularity of football has risen among higher social classes thanks to greater media
     Mike Wragg, Executive Vice President, Global Head of Research, Nielsen Sports         coverage and the rise of new technology. That fan culture has now spread to other major
                                                                                           domestic sports like ice hockey, basketball, handball and even winter sports.

                                                                                                                  TREND POSITIVE 8% GAME EXPERT 17% CONNECTION FAN 8%
                                                                                                                  ARMCHAIR FAN 14% BUSY 14% DISENGAGED 13% CYNIC 17%

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FAN REVOLUTION GLOBAL FANS IN THE INFORMATION AGE - NIELSEN SPORTS
Looking for that national moment: Britons tend to relish the social
occasions delivered by sports events, from the traditional gathering
in front of the television to watch the FA Cup final, to watching major
                                                                            UK                                                   Collective spirit: In culturally diverse Malaysia, sport plays a role as the
                                                                                                                                 common interest, and when brands play to this collective spirit, fans are
                                                                                                                                 responsive. Sponsorship is not only accepted, it is welcomed, and fans are
                                                                                                                                                                                                                  MALAYSIA
competitions like the Premier League or Six Nations at home with family                                                          keen to associate their passions for a sport with brands they interact with on
or in the pub – as borne out by the high proportion of Connection Fans                                                           an everyday basis. Malaysians are particularly happy to wear their passions
compared to the other fan groups. In recent times, this congregation of                                                          on their sleeves; a high Trend Positive population who use sponsor brands
people around their passion points has also doubtless been fuelled by the                                                        to show off their association with their favourite teams. This high propensity
UK’s major event decade and British success on the international stage,                                                          for fans to interact with sponsors can be found across the majority of the
notably during London 2012 – successful major events are often talked                                                            major sports, but interestingly not as strongly in the most popular sport,
of as having ‘captured the nation’ and as a ‘national moment’, with other                                                        badminton. While more than half the population of Malaysia are interested
examples including Andy Murray’s Wimbledon victories, and England FIFA                                                           in badminton, driven by a high participation rate, it is football and F1 fans
World Cup or UEFA European Championship matches.                                                                                 that display the more brand favourable behaviour traits.

           TREND POSITIVE 8% GAME EXPERT 15% CONNECTION FAN 12%                                                                              TREND POSITIVE 15% GAME EXPERT 15% CONNECTION FAN 13%
           ARMCHAIR FAN 12% BUSY 11% DISENGAGED 9% CYNIC 17%                                                                                 ARMCHAIR FAN 15% BUSY 9% DISENGAGED 10% CYNIC 13%

AUSTRALIA                                            Cynical? Us?:   The Australian sports market has traditionally driven
                                                    by geography – National Rugby League (NRL) is more popular in
                                                    Sydney or Brisbane, whereas in Melbourne or Perth Australian Rules
                                                                                                                                 CHINA                                                   A market in development: China’s sports market is developing rapidly,
                                                                                                                                                                                        with major investment in teams, leagues, facilities and grassroots
                                                                                                                                                                                        programmes, particularly in football. Basketball has a higher interest
                                                    Football (AFL) is stronger. Across what is a relatively small population                                                            than in many markets, thanks largely to the National Basketball
                                                    of 21 million people, these two competitions alone have sustained                                                                   Association’s early broadcast moves in the country and the ‘Yao Ming-
                                                    34 teams across winter competitions. Increasing ease of accessibility                                                               effect’. In China, sports such as badminton and table tennis have large
                                                    to US and European sports, and new women’s competitions across                                                                      appeal, while the concept of the superstar, particularly a home-grown
                                                    netball, cricket, and the AFL, as well as the growth of domestic football,                                                          star, plays well, as evidenced by the country’s huge Olympic programme –
                                                    which has successfully tapped into migrant subcultures, have created                                                                accelerated by the Beijing 2008 Olympics – and the huge recognition
                                                    a highly competitive landscape, flooded with a plethora of sports                                                                   for the likes of now-retired tennis player Li Na.
                                                    content. Australians are increasingly being more selective about what
                                                    they choose to engage with. As the high Cynics score shows, Australian
                                                                                                                                                                                                    TREND POSITIVE 25% GAME EXPERT 4% CONNECTION FAN 18%
                                                    fans tend to like their sport to be authentic: diving and faking injuries
                                                    is frowned upon; brands must demonstrate they are credible partners
                                                                                                                                                                                                    ARMCHAIR FAN 7% BUSY 18% DISENGAGED 10% CYNIC 4%
                                                    for a team.

                                                               TREND POSITIVE 11% GAME EXPERT 13% CONNECTION FAN 11%
                                                               ARMCHAIR FAN 11% BUSY 12% DISENGAGED 11% CYNIC 20%
                                                                                                                                 Major events, major opportunity:        Major events, major opportunity: Although football
                                                                                                                                 dominates in Mexico – and 67% of the football fan base is concentrated on four of the 18 top-
                                                                                                                                 tier clubs - there are significant opportunities opening up for other sports to grab a share of
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     MEXICO
                                                                                                                                 the limelight. Sports participation and fanaticism is rising, especially in the country’s largest
                                                                                                                                 cities, while many rights holders are going through a process of professionalization. Major
                                                                                                                                 investments in events – the return of Formula One to Mexico City and a regular-season NFL
                                                                                                                                 game among them – are also helping to attract fans to different sports, while the rise of OTT
                                                                                                                                 and digital broadcasting is helping to find and serve new audiences. The Rio 2016 Olympic
                                                                                                                                 Games were broadcast via an OTT platform in Mexico, while Chivas, one of the country’s
                                                                                                                                 leading football clubs, has also launched its own direct-to-consumer channel.

                                                                                                                                                       TREND POSITIVE 15% GAME EXPERT 15% CONNECTION FAN 13%
                                                                                                                                                       ARMCHAIR FAN 15% BUSY 9% DISENGAGED 10% CYNIC 13%

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FAN REVOLUTION GLOBAL FANS IN THE INFORMATION AGE - NIELSEN SPORTS
2                                                               REVOLUTION
                                                                 WHAT ARE THE SEVEN FAN GROUPS?
                                                                 WHICH ACTIVATIONS WORK BEST FOR EACH ONE?
                                                                 AND HOW DO WE MAKE THESE INSIGHTS
                                                                 WORK FOR US?
                                                                            TM
                                                                 FAN DNA         : NFL and European football: The data on the next
                                                                 couple of pages offers a comparison of fan groups between National
                                                                 Football League (NFL) fans in the United States and European football
                                                                 fans in Europe. It shows a substantially higher proportion of NFL fans
                                                                 in the United States than European football fans across Europe.

                                                                 For NFL fans in America, team affiliation is evidently an important part

                                                                                                                                            32%
                                                                 of their personal branding – the data breaking down fan segmentation
                                                                 amongst the top five NFL teams bears this out; NFL team fan bases
                                                                 tend to include more Trend Positive fans than the top Premier League
                                                                 teams in England.

                                                                 There is also a larger proportion of Armchair Fans in the NFL in the       OF EUROPEAN
                                                                 United States than of European football in Europe, which is driven         FOOTBALL FANS ARE
                                                                 largely by the broadcast coverage of the two sports: NFL games are         CONNECTION FANS
                                                                 widely available on free-to-air networks across the United States,
                                                                 whilst European top-level football tends to have moved from free
                                                                 television to pay services. European football’s higher proportion of
                                                                 Cynics suggests these fans have been turned off by what they may
                                                                 perceive as over-commercialisation of the beautiful game.

     By identifying different types of
     fan, content and activations can
     be tailored to specific groups.

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FAN REVOLUTION GLOBAL FANS IN THE INFORMATION AGE - NIELSEN SPORTS
SEGMENT BREAKDOWN BY FAN BASE SIZE
                                                                                                                           TOP 5 TEAMS
                                                                                                                                                                   Trend Positive                  Connection Fan                 Game Expert                    Armchair Fan

                                                                                                                                                                                                           Premier League
                                                                                                                              NFL Teams                                                                    Teams

                                                                                                                              Dallas Cowboys            18%        17%         18%        12%             Manchester City            7%         41%        19%        5%

                                                                                                                              Denver Broncos            17%        15%         29%        10%             Manchester
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    11%         34%        18%        7%
                                                                                                                                                                                                          United
                                                                                                                              New England
                                                                                                                                                        12%        17%         20%        13%
                                                                                                                              Patriots                                                                    Arsenal                    6%         39%        16%        8%

                                                                                                                              Pittsburgh Steelers       16%        13%         25%        13%             Chelsea                    7%         42%        17%        8%

                                                                                                                              Green Bay Packers         13%        14%         24%        12%             Liverpool                  9%         30%        23%        6%

Oakland Raiders fans ahead of the NFL team’s November 2016 game against Houston Texans in Mexico City.

                                                                                                                           Source: Repucom SDNA May 2015, Europe = average across UK, DE, IT, ES, FR

FAN DNATM SEGMENTS
                                                                                                                                                                             Schalke 04 supporters backing their team during a Bundesliga game versus Wolfsburg in April 2015.

                 NFL                                                                      EUROPEAN
                                                                                          FOOTBALL

  Trend Positive               11%                                           Trend Positive              6%
 Connection Fan                                    30%                      Connection Fan                           32%
     Game Expert                     15%                                      Game Expert                14%
     Armchair Fan                 14%                                         Armchair Fan       7%
            Busy             4%                                                       Busy          4%
      Disengaged               11%                                             Disengaged             11%
            Cynic                    16%                                             Cynic                     26%

Source: Repucom SDNA May 2015, Europe = average across UK, DE, IT, ES, FR

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FAN REVOLUTION GLOBAL FANS IN THE INFORMATION AGE - NIELSEN SPORTS
TREND POSITIVES                                                              ACTIVATIONS WHICH THIS
                                                    THEY LOVE SPORT –
                                                                                                                                 FAN GROUP LOVE
                                                                                                                                                                                                            Trend Positives tend to respond strongly to activations
                                                                                                                                                                                                            in­volving a celebrity and a fashionable cause, a celebrity and

                                                    AND WHAT IT SAYS ABOUT THEM                                                                                                                             something wearable, and activations which are high­­ly creative
                                                                                                                                                                                                            and visual – things they can share, be seen singing or dancing
                                                                                                                                                                                                            along to, wear or display!

    Who they are?                                   With Trend Positives, their principal underlying reason for being a fan is
                                                    that it identifies them as a member of a group they aspire to belong to –
                                                    so activations that help them project that identity will work really well               GLOBAL AVERAGE: TREND POSITIVE 9% GAME EXPERT 13% CONNECTION FAN 25% ARMCHAIR FAN 18% BUSY 18% DISENGAGED 6% CYNIC 11%
GENDER               Male               51%         with this group.
                 Female                49%
AGE                                                 Sport plays a very important part in the life of Trend Positives – they’re   JOSE MOURINHO – HUBLOT                                                                           ACTIVIA AND SHAKIRA –
GAME EXPERTS                                                                   ACTIVATIONS
                                                    THEY WANT FACTS,
                                                    STATISTICS AND TACTICS                                                         WHICH THIS FAN GROUP LOVE
    Who they are?                                   Game Experts’ principal underlying motivation for being a fan is a deep                    GLOBAL AVERAGE: TREND POSITIVE 9% GAME EXPERT 13% CONNECTION FAN 25% ARMCHAIR FAN 18% BUSY 6% DISENGAGED 6% CYNIC 11%
                                                    interest in and connection to the intrinsic detail of the game. Activations
                                                    that enhance their appreciation of that detail therefore work really well
GENDER               Male                   65%     for them. Conversely, sponsor activity seen to ‘get in the way’ of the         US OPEN – IBM                                      VOLKSWAGEN TALK – WERDER BREMEN                    POWER PLAYER – YINGLI
                   Female        35%                game will receive a pretty negative reaction from this group.
                                                                                                                                   Golf fans can keep up with the US Open             A series of short YouTube interviews with          As part of its premium partnership with Bayern
AGE
CONNECTION FANS                                                               ACTIVATIONS WHICH THIS
                                                    COMING TOGETHER TO
                                                                                                                                  FAN GROUP LOVE
                                                                                                                                                                                                             Connection Fans tend to respond strongly to activations
                                                                                                                                                                                                             which promote or celebrate family, friendship, community

                                                    ENJOY SPORTS                                                                                                                                             and the causes which are most relevant to their communities.
                                                                                                                                                                                                             Think about what you can do for the grassroots, for mass
                                                                                                                                                                                                             participation, for their children – and celebrate how powerful
                                                    Connection Fans’ principal underlying motivation for being a fan is the                                                                                  these bonds can be in changing lives for the better.
    Who they are?
                                                    opportunity it creates for doing things with their friendship group and/or
                                                    family. Activations that celebrate, enhance, or amplify these connection                 GLOBAL AVERAGE: TREND POSITIVE 9% GAME EXPERT 13% CONNECTION FAN 25% ARMCHAIR FAN 18% BUSY 18% DISENGAGED 6% CYNIC 11%
GENDER                Male               54%        opportunities strike a strong chord with this group.
                    Female             46%
                                                    Connection Fans are likely to enjoy watching sport with friends and           PLAY 60 CHALLENGE –                              #SOSLAUNDRY – ALL AND SNUGGLE                    HYPED FOR HALFTIME –
AGE
ARMCHAIR FANS                                                                   BUSY                                      DISENGAGED                              CYNIC
                                                   CONNECTING TO THE WORLD,                                                        FAMILY, WORK –                            JUST LEAVE ME ALONE – SPONSORSHIP IS
                                                   FROM HOME                                                                       AND THAT’S ABOUT IT                       I JUST DON’T CARE     A NECESSARY EVIL
    Who they are?                                  Armchair Fans’ principal underlying motivation for being a fan is the           The key to understanding Busy Fans        The Disengaged group really just        Cynics are sports fans – but their
                                                   ability to connect out to the wider world from the comfort and safety of        is that they are relatively disengaged    don’t care about sport – beyond it      love of sport is highly coloured
                                                   their own living space. A much harder audience for sponsors to activate,        from sport due to other priorities        being something else to watch on        by what they perceive as over-
GENDER               Male             45%          the key will be thinking about what’s useful and relevant for this more         in their busy lives, not because          TV, a big event their friends might     commercialisation. Sport and those
                   Female               55%        isolated audience.                                                              they don’t enjoy it. The challenge        be drawn into. They follow what is      who play it are regarded as spoilt by
                                                                                                                                   in engaging them is to find a way of      happening around them; but sport        money and business.
AGE
THE REVOLUTION
     CONTINUES
     The Fan Revolution journey has taken us through billions of data
     points and right around the world. What we’ve found is that the key to
     unlocking greater value for sponsors – actual behaviour change amongst
     fans – is simply understanding the few different reasons why fans are
     fans in the first place and then engaging them in ways that resonate with
     that underlying motivation. And this pattern holds across fans of sports
     and entertainment worldwide.

     Growing numbers of rights-holders, sponsor brands and broadcasters
     around the world using technology like Fan DNATM and digital Fan
     Stories to select and design sponsorship activations and measure the
     performance of those investments. Others have spotted the opportunity
     to innovate with this approach to build a much broader and more
     consumer-centric approach to managing all aspects of their global fan                               ABOUT NIELSEN
     CRM model.

                                                                                                         Nielsen Holdings plc (NYSE: NLSN) is a global performance
                                                                                                         management company that provides a comprehensive understanding
                                                                                                         of what consumers watch and buy. Nielsen’s Watch segment
                                                                                                         provides media and advertising clients with Nielsen Total Audience
                                                                                                         measurement services for all devices on which content — video,
                                  The next step                                                          audio and text — is consumed. The Buy segment offers consumer
                                                                                                         packaged goods manufacturers and retailers the industry’s
                                                                                                         only global view of retail performance measurement. By integrating
                                    BEGIN YOUR
                                                                                                         information from its Watch and Buy segments and other data
                               FAN REVOLUTION WITH
                                                                                                         sources, Nielsen also provides its clients with analytics that help
                                NIELSEN SPORTS AT
                                                                                                         improve performance. Nielsen, an S&P 500 company, has operations
                                                                                                         in over 100 countries, covering more than 90% of the world’s
                                entertainment@
                                                                                                         population. For more information, visit www.nielsen.com.
                                  nielsen.com

                                                                                                         Photography: Front-Cover: istockimages / AfricaImages, Page 14:
                                                                                                         istockimages / piola666, Page 24: istockimages / kizilkayaphotos.
                                                                                                         All the others are provided by AFP.

26                                                                               Copyright © 2017 The Nielsen Company                                                          27
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