Fan Insight Revealed Ahead Of Fifa World Cup

Snack Media and Snack Gaming has released the results of their latest survey of football fans from a 25 million-strong network of fans, to find out how supporters will consume the FIFA World Cup 2018…

The survey of nearly 2,000 participants revealed that fan habits are shifting ahead of the tournament this summer, with a change to viewing preferences, betting insight and sponsor recall, as well as an ambivalent attitude towards the England team compared to previous tournaments.

10 Quick Insights

• Official sponsor adidas faces an uphill challenge for a greater share of mind than unofficial sponsor Nike – when faced with a selection of brands, 54% incorrectly believed Nike is a sponsor, while only 57% knew that adidas is a sponsor. 15% incorrectly believed Volkswagen is a sponsor, while 27% know that Hyundai Kia is a sponsor.
• The main companion for TV viewers during matches will be social media on their phones, not their mates (66% will be watching at home vs. 5% at a friends’)
• Pubs will need to make a big marketing push to get people off their sofas and into the local (just 16% intend to watch at the pub)
• Live TV is still the main viewing destination (85% will be watching on TV)
• Live action is the biggest marketing opportunity: nobody will be watching the highlights on delay (just 0.28%)
• 44% will be making a bet
• Germany are the favourites to win (backed by 40%)
• England fans are pessimistic about the team’s chances (priced as outsiders by 91%)
• 50% of fans are keen to watch games in a fan park
• Social media has overtaken newspapers as a preferred source of World Cup news (just 8% will consult newspapers vs. 25% who will consult digital channels)

The research revealed unsurprisingly that live TV will still be the main viewing destination, with 85% planning to watch the action on TV. However, pubs will need to make a big marketing push to get people off their sofas, with only 16% intending to leave home for the local. Digital channels will be the main media platform for consumption – just 8% of those surveyed will go to a national newspaper for news and insight compared to 45% who said Sky Sports and 25% who will use various official and unofficial digital channels.

Niall Coen, Snack-Media CEO and co-founder: “Brands want to connect with sports fans around tent pole events such as the World Cup, we at Snack Media wanted to ensure that our World Cup coverage across our 26 million addressable audience network is relevant, meaningful and entertaining for fans and brands alike.

“It is so important that brands use these opportunities to engage in conversation with authenticity by creating relevant experiences for followers. Using our network to collect the opinions of these supporters ahead of big tournaments gives us great insight into the mind of the modern football fan. We are excited to release the findings from our research and I’m sure they will be of interest to both official rights holders and those looking to activate with more guerilla style campaigns.”

England fans seem more pessimistic than ever about the team’s chances in the tournament – 91% priced Southgate’s men as outsiders – and just 3% will be making the trip to Russia themselves. In fact, four times more people would like to win tickets to watch their favourite club in action than watch England’s group games in Russia, and just over three times more would rather win a home entertainment system than watch the Three Lions next summer.

Germany emerged as favourites among punters, 40% of whom would stake £100 on them to lift the title.

Snack-Gaming.com co-founder Rupert Pratt concluded: “The 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia has the potential to be a landmark event for the sports marketing and digital industry. Never before has digital consumption been so high or so well understood. The research demonstrates the level of personalisation fans want.

“Sponsors and advertisers will need to deliver a broad range content and digital engagement tools across multiple channels. This combination of peak time live TV destination viewing and digital consumption creates significant opportunities for official sponsors but potentially more so unofficial sponsors.”

Snack Media announced the launch of Snack Gaming, a new joint venture between Jon Trigg and Rupert Pratt, last month.