Younger. Educated. Male. This is how the modern soccer fan in the United States has come to be described. Studies one after the other have come to this conclusion. Hitwise, a consumer analytics platform, recently released a study that reaffirms those three descriptors.
While it may not seem important that another research project has stated this, that would be ignoring the full-value of the data. In today’s world that is ever changing, truths can shift from fact to fiction quickly. It could be costly if the demographics of the soccer fan changed, but soccer marketers continued to target a fan profile that was no longer relevant. The confirmation of the three categories reemphasizes these points to marketers, which promises that the known truths still hold weight.
Beyond that, the two things that stand out most are soccer fans’ similar love for baseball and FC Dallas sitting in the Top 3 for the most searched US-based soccer team. People rarely put baseball and soccer together when marketing because baseball fans are thought of as old, while soccer fans are considered young. Moving forward there may an opportunity to build off of this but before reacting, marketers should look for additional confirmation elsewhere.
FC Dallas are perennially one of the lowest-drawing MLS clubs, even though they have built one of the most dominant on-field products over the past couple years, particularly with locally developed players. It is interesting to see the relationship between the two factoids as it may lead one to assume that there might be a disconnect between the fans and their experience in-venue.
Check out Hitwise’s Infographic below to learn more from their study.
Categories: Major League Soccer, Soccer Marketing, U.S. Soccer