According the Global Sports Media Consumption Report 2012, which covered 10 markets including Australia and China in Asia-Pacific, 65 per cent of sports fans using social networks have a positive opinion of brands that associate with the sports they follow on social platforms.
That compares to an average of 46 per cent of fans—not necessarily those engaging with social networks—who said they were more likely to have a positive opinion of a brand that advertises around sports.
In addition, 58 per cent of social networking sports fans said they were more likely to buy a product or service from a brand associated with relevant sports, compared with 40 per cent of all fans.
Social networking engagement around sports was shown to be particularly high in China, with RenRen the most popular platform. Close to 50 per cent of respondents indicated that they followed sporting activity on social networks, compared with 23 per cent in Australia. In addition, 41 per cent of Chinese sports fans said they were willing to share content from brands on social networking platforms—twice the rate of respondents in Australia.
TV remains the most popular platform overall in both markets, with nearly all respondents using it as the primary medium to consume sports content. Online media accessed via PC was also shown to be significant, at 86 per cent in China and 55 per cent in Australia. China also has the highest level of consumption of all markets via connected TV or internet enabled set-top box at 39 per cent—a year-on-year increase of 70 per cent.
The report attributes the rise of online activity around sport in China to the recent development of reliable broadband services. A majority (58 per cent) of Chinese fans were found to have started watching sport online in the last two years, and 70 per cent plan to watch the London Olympics online via a PC. The figure was considerably lower in Australia, at just 10 per cent.
The study is the result of online interviews conducted across 10 markets including Australia, China, Brazil, France, Germany, Italy, Russia, Spain, the UK and the US. More than 1000 subjects aged 18 and over were surveyed in each market.
