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SBJ Atlas and Kantar present: NBA by the numbers
Kantar Sports Monitor recently issued its “ State of the NBA ” report, and SBJ Atlas’ Derick Moss pulled some interesting data points around the league and its place in sports. Some notable conclusions:
- Demographically, the NBA fanbase remains younger and more diverse than other pro leagues. The average NBA fan is 36 years old (42 is the average for other leagues), with 62% of fans identifying as either Millennial (38%) or Gen Z (24%). The league’s fans are 65% male and the average annual household income is $91,000, compared to $89,500 for the average sports fan. The ethnic breakdown is White (52%), Black (20%), Hispanic (19%) and Asian (2%).
- NBA fans are much more engaged on social media, with 49% indicating that social is extremely/very important to their fandom, compared to 35% of fans of other leagues.
- Of 18 sports measured by Kantar, the NBA ranks second with 26% of fans responding that they have gambled on league games. NBA fans are also supportive of legalized gambling efforts, with 35% saying they support such measures, compared with 27% of all sports fans.
- NBA fans are also esports fans: 48% watched a video game competition in the past 12 months, compared to 33% of all sports fans.
A tale of two World Series cities
It would be difficult to find two more evenly matched media markets to face off in the World Series than regional powerhouses Atlanta and Houston. According to the most recent Nielsen DMAs report, Atlanta is the 7th largest TV market with 2.65M TV homes, while Houston is 8th with 2.56M homes — both surpassed Boston and DC in those rankings in the past decade. Houston is slightly younger, with a higher percentage of its citizens (50.17% compared to 47.48%) under the age of 34. It also has a slight edge in median family income ($92,500 to $90,800), according to recent U.S. Census data.
On social media, both teams are in the top half of the league, but an edge goes to the Braves, who ranked 7th in MLB in total followers compared to the Astros’ 12th. In player payroll, however, the Astros ($194M) were 4th in MLB this season while the Braves were 12th ($147M). Astros 3B Alex Bregman has the largest social audience of any player in the Series with 965K total followers, ranking 19th in MLB, while Braves 1B Freddie Freeman is 35th with 495K followers. A recent MLB ranking showed Braves RF Ronald Acuna (4) and Freeman (15) and the Astros 2B Jose Altuve (17) in the top 20 for jersey sales in ’21.
MLB sponsors finalizing World Series activations
MLB’s top corporate sponsors are finalizing activation plans for the World Series, which starts tonight in Houston. Longtime corporate partner A-B InBev is again staging a “Hit it Here” promotion, wherein drinking-age fans entering on Twitter #Hiththebuds can win what is defined as “free beer for a year’’ if a home run is hit into designated outfield section. Taco Bell will again stage its “Steal a Base, Steal a Taco” promotion, in which fans will get free Doritos Locos Tacos once a base is stolen in the Series. An agreement between the QSR and the Baseball HOF ensures that the first stolen base will go to Cooperstown.
Crypto exchange brand FTX will debut a spot in the Fox telecast and its logo will continue to be emblazoned on MLB umpires’ uniforms. FTX is continuing its “Moonblast” home run donation program. Every home run more than 425 feet in the postseason has been a $10,000 donation; the company is upping it to $100,000 per such homer during the World Series. The brand’s “Moon Man” spokescharacter will appear at games. The FTX brand will also be on phone wallets that are a gate premium.
Chevrolet once again will award a new car to the World Series MVP. It will be the Z06 Corvette, which debuted today. However, there will not be an infield presentation in deference to the supply-chain difficulties which have all cars in short supply.
Meanwhile, between the two World Series teams’ sponsors, Astros partner ROKiT shows the highest brand affinity with the club, according to Zoomph data compiled by SBJ Atlas. Followers of ROKiT on social are 50.74 times more likely to follow the Astros on Twitter than the average MLB league follower.
Meanwhile, between the two World Series teams’ sponsors, Astros partner ROKiT shows the highest brand affinity with the club, according to Zoomph data compiled by SBJ Atlas. Followers of ROKiT on social are 50.74 times more likely to follow the Astros on Twitter than the average MLB league follower.
Kraken, Climate Pledge Arena capitalize on social with arena opener
Climate Pledge Arena , home of the Kraken , opened to much media fanfare last week, and the buzz on social media proved valuable as well, writes SBJ Atlas’ Derick Moss .
The NHL expansion club over the weekend took advantage of three different handles that produced more than $100,000 in value between them, according to analysis by Zoomph . The arena benefited from tweets by Coldplay, who played their first live show in the venue, as well as tweets from ESPN’s “SportsCenter” handle and the arena’s own account.
