Fall sports viewers are more than football fans: distracted, subscribed and ready to spend

The useful part

There's More To The Fall Sports Audience Than Football Fandom | AdExchanger: Sponsored post by Gretchen Tibbits President & Chief Operating Officer CivicScience SPONSORED BY: On a Tuesday in early September, I found myself bouncing between the NFL, the US Open quarterfinals and Women's College Volleyball, with a baseball game or two in the mix.

How it works

• According to CivicScience's research, two-thirds of US adults (67%) say they plan to watch at least one collegiate or professional sports "broadcast" this fall, with football leading viewership.
• Many treat that audience as a closed ecosystem, but marketers should take a more nuanced approach to where and how they show up around this audience.
• The audience is primed to spend Fall sports viewers also recall brands they've seen advertised online at a higher rate than the general population (51% versus 46%) and they're receptive to relevant,...
• For example, 25% "appreciate more relevant ads, even if personal data is used" versus 17% of the general population.
• Banner blindness is near universal, search traffic has run dry and publishers are struggling for oxygen.

What to take from it

Because most viewers aren't giving a broadcast their undivided attention in the first place – they're often on a second screen – reaching them means understanding what else is competing for that attention. Multiply that by every American with a remote and a phone, and you get a picture of what fall sports season looks like. The second screen matters Seventy percent of fall sports viewers use a second screen during broadcasts.

Example or evidence

• Yet most content providers are still building for it the other way around, treating sports readers, business readers and health and fitness readers as separate acquisition funnels instead of acknowledging...
• What this means for publishers Publishers building for fall sports viewers need a different playbook than "sports fan" implies.
• The fall sports audience publishers are building for right now won't look the same in two years.
• These viewers are already in the habit of consuming content while the game is on, treating sports as a dual focus.

Details worth keeping

Oh, and the FIBA Women's World Cup had already finished for the day. Their top activity isn't checking live stats or fantasy scores. Thirty-three percent are consuming content entirely unrelated to the game.

Related coverage

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