ROCHESTER, NY, June 12, 2001 - The Information Age has taught most companies the value of analyzing information about their current and potential clients to optimize marketing campaigns and increase customer satisfaction and retention. However, there are yet untapped, amazing opportunities for sports and entertainment venues to use consumer data to significantly increase ticket sales, attendance, and the ROI of sponsorship programs.
Contrary to popular belief, lowering ticket prices is not the best way - or even the most profitable way - to get people into seats. Creating an entertainment "experience" with flexible season ticket packages, VIP perks, etc. is a far better alternative. In short, people want to have fun, and for an increasing number of sports attendees, this may have very little to do with the actual competition.
Sports Attendees - No Longer the Sole Domain of the Diehard
On average, over a third of attendees at any particular sporting event are not really fans of that sport:
- Only 14% of NFL attendees are diehard or avid NFL fans;
- Only 27% of NBA attendees are diehard or avid NBA fans.
This trend is also true of other sports with an historically sizable diehard/avid fan base:
- 40% of NHL attendees are NOT diehard or avid NHL fans;
- 35% of men's college basketball attendees are casual fans or lower;
- 29% of college football fans are less than avid fans of the sport.
In fact, the vast majority of diehard and avid fans of most sports don't even attend the actual games:
- Only 18% of diehard or avid college football fans attended a game last season
- 23% of diehard or avid NASCAR fans attended a NASCAR event last season.
The one real exception is Major League Baseball (MLB): 81% of diehard or avid MLB fans reported attending at least one MLB game last season.
Segmenting Attendees: Diehard Fan vs. Entertainment Seeker
In light of the increasing number of non-sports fans at sporting events, the potential attendee market should be viewed in two distinct categories:
- diehard fans and avid fans (who do not attend games)
- casual fans with generally active lifestyles (we call these Entertainment Seekers)
Understanding the differences and similarities between these two segments is critical. Learning the demographics of sports attendees relative to fans in general, the people with whom they attend, and the sites of ticket purchase can be extremely useful in improving attendance. This data can help to determine if remedies such as scheduling more afternoon games, constructing children's play areas or creating business centers for executives will have a positive effect on a team's bottom line.
If leveraged correctly, these competitive insights can produce more flexible and widely purchased season ticket packages, increased family attendance, and more efficient online ticket purchasing. Major League Baseball, having applied these strategies, has realized significant gains in attendance: 60% of all pro sports attendees went to an MLB game last season - up from 49% at the end of the 1999 season.
The Indelible Link between Sports and Theatre Attendees
It is important to understand the dynamics of both segments. Entertainment Seekers are people with active lifestyles who typically attend pro sporting events, concerts, or the theatre. They are younger, wealthier, and more likely to be single than the general population. Likewise, they are significantly more likely to rent cars and movies, own a cell phone, have a preferred gas station and make financial investments than the general population.
Integrating services, capabilities, and marketing messages across venue events makes it possible to reach those who actively participate in sportainment - in any of its many forms. In other words, the owners of an auditorium should not view attendees of the symphony and arena football as mutually exclusive, inherently different segments.
- 65% of concert attendees also attend theatre - and 31% attend pro sports;
- 59% of pro sports attendees attend theatre - and 31% attend concerts;
- 16% of theatre attendees attend pro sports - and 25% attend concerts.
Satisfying sportainment attendees means much more than serving their preferred beverage at the concession stand. It means researching and understanding what makes them tick - knowing what their reasons are for coming to various events.
What should venues be considering?
Simple and effective, customized ticket packages are a creative way to win over current and potential customers in the competitive sportainment landscape and can provide sponsors with "virtual value."
For example, a venue credit card ticket provides flexible, customized options for attendees - and it becomes a useful mechanism for venues as they manage customer relationships and improve service, sales, retention, and ultimately - value.
Imagine a venue-issued credit card that allows customers to buy, exchange, and transfer tickets for any and all events at that venue (the primary reason for season ticket non-renewal). This card could be used for concessions and product purchases as well as access to specialized areas at the venue (including a kids park or business center). It could also be used to deliver sponsorship promotions, coupons, and offers from other partners. All of the customer behavior data would become the property of the venue and then integrated into specific customer promotions such as upgrades and VIP treatment for the venue's more valued customers (a primary driver of season ticket renewal). Most importantly, this program gives venues the opportunity to own and manage the client relationship - and in the emerging sportainment landscape, there is little more important to success than that.
Sports venues have the potential to strike gold - and the tools to mine it need sharpening.
About SportTainmentsm News
Each bi-weekly issue will incorporate up-to-the-minute analyses of sportainment trends providing critical insights to industry executives and marketers. The blurring line between sports and entertainment-happening at all levels of sports-has created new opportunities, new markets, and new challenges for properties, venues, advertisers, teams, leagues, and sponsors. The publication's aim is to present a whole new way of looking at sports and its merger with the entertainment industry. And, any organization that builds its business around sporting events must understand the competitive implications of this shift.
About Harris Interactive
Harris Interactive (Nasdaq: HPOL), is a worldwide market research, polling and consulting firm. It is best known for The Harris Poll and its pioneering use of the Internet to conduct scientifically accurate market research. The Harris Interactive Internet-based forecasts for the 2000 election were the most accurate in the history of the polling industry. With expertise in pharmaceutical, health care, automotive, finance, ecommerce, technology, consumer packaged goods and other markets, the firm has spent 45 years providing its clients with custom, multi-client and service bureau research. In February 2001, the Company acquired the custom research group of Yankelovich Partners, a leading consultative marketing and opinion research firm. Through its U.S. and Global Network offices, Harris Interactive conducts international research in multiple, localized languages. Harris Interactive currently maintains a database of more than 7 million online panelists - the largest of its kind. For more information about Harris Interactive, please visit the Company's website at
