This summer’s games in Paris represent an extraordinary opportunity to connect with sports audiences on a global scale. As we anticipate this momentous event that happens once every four years, it’s clear that the passion and excitement surrounding sports are more vibrant than ever. With one billion viewers expected to tune in, now is the time to take advantage of the fervor of sports fans and tailor your strategies to resonate with this audience.
In this blog post, we’ll explore audience segments that can maximize the impact of sports and influencer marketing campaigns, drawing inspiration from the anticipation of this summer’s games.
What are the benefits of advertising in sports?
Before we explore these audience segments, first let’s review three benefits of advertising in sports.
Increase product awareness
Sports viewers are less likely to skip commercials, so you can increase product awareness by reaching more engaged consumers. Reach current customers during sports games to remind them of your products and inspire more purchases.
Build a strong connection with dedicated fans
Fans exhibit unwavering loyalty to their teams, staying dedicated whether their team wins or loses. This loyalty is highly beneficial for brands, as loyal fans are not only enthusiastic spenders but also form lasting, meaningful connections with the brand.
Improve audience targeting
Live sports are now available to watch on many streaming services like Peacock and Amazon, allowing marketers to better choose and target audience segments across connected TV (CTV) to deploy more personalized ads – something that is limited with traditional TV sports broadcasting.
When you work with Experian, you work with the #1 ranked data provider that gives you access to demographic and behavioral targeting that allows you to reach consumers based on who they are, where they live, and what they do.
To fully take advantage of the benefits of sports advertising, here are the audience segments we recommend targeting to drive engagement and conversion.
Sports fans
Harnessing the enthusiasm of sports fans can drive powerful engagement and brand loyalty. Align your campaigns with major sporting events, teams, or athletes to tap into the emotional connection fans have with their favorite sports or countries.
Here are 10 audience segments that you can activate to target sports fans:
- Likely to be a sports enthusiast: Lifestyle and Interests (Affinity) > Activities and Entertainment >
- MLB Enthusiasts
- NASCAR Enthusiast
- NBA Enthusiasts
- NFL Enthusiasts
- NHL Enthusiasts
- PGA Tour Enthusiasts
- Travels to see professional sports: Travel Intent > Activities > Professional Sports Event
- NEW! Pickleball enthusiast: Retail Shoppers: Purchase Based > Sporting Goods, Apparel > Pickleball Enthusiast
- NEW! Wilderness sports and camping enthusiasts: Retail Shoppers: Purchase Based > Outdoor Activities > Wilderness Sports and Camping Enthusiasts
Worldview
WorldView offers immediate access to essential demographic and consumer data using advanced satellite technology and machine learning. Marketers planning campaigns ahead of this summer’s games can use WorldView to understand their audience, optimize distribution, and identify untapped market areas across 90 countries. With WorldView, you can benchmark performance, visualize customer data, and create a consistent global audience strategy for digital activation. This comprehensive solution provides valuable insights for location planning, data enrichment, and targeted digital advertising, without relying on personal information, making it ideal for geo-targeted marketing approaches.
Sporting events and travel beyond this summer’s games
While this summer’s games are a major draw, there are still many sports fans who may prefer events that aren’t connected to the summer games during this time. You can pair our Travel Intent > Activities > Professional Sports Event audience with our Lifestyle and Interests (Affinity) > Sports and Recreation > Sports Enthusiast audience to target individuals who have expressed interest in attending sporting events or traveling for sports-related activities.
We can deliver our syndicated audience segments to 30+ activation platforms, which means we have a solution however you want to consume and use our data.
Sports spectators
Enhancing the experience of sports spectators can create memorable moments and lasting impressions. Target individuals interested in attending sporting events, promote ticket sales, VIP experiences, and exclusive merchandise to elevate their game-day experience and foster a sense of belonging within the sports community.
Here are 7 audience segments that you can activate to target sports spectators:
- Interested in sports: Lifestyle and Interests (Affinity) > Sports (FLA / Fair Lending Friendly)*
- Baseball (FLA / Fair Lending Friendly)
- Football (FLA / Fair Lending Friendly)
- Visits sports venues: Mobile Location Models > Visits >
- College Sport Venues
- NFL Stadium Visitors
- University Stadium College Football Visitor
- MLB Stadium Visitors
You can also develop targeted advertising campaigns promoting travel packages or hotel deals around Paris. Highlight proximity to this summer’s games, special experiences, or exclusive offers for travelers during this summer’s games season. By targeting specific travel preferences and behaviors, you can capture the attention of individuals planning trips around this summer’s games. When you work with Experian, you work with a single data provider that gives you access to audiences across multiple verticals and categories like travel and retail.
Sporting goods shoppers
You can use Experian audiences to reach consumers interested in sports and fitness ahead of the summer games. Targeting individuals in the market for sports equipment and apparel can help you reach those actively seeking sporting goods. By focusing on this segment, you can increase conversion rates and optimize ad spend by reaching an audience already inclined toward sports and fitness shopping.
Here are 6 audience segments that you can activate to target consumers who are spending on sports apparel:
- NEW! Wears athleisure: Retail Shoppers: Purchase Based > Sporting Goods, Apparel > Athleisure Sportswear Apparel
- Women’s activewear high spenders: Retail Shoppers: Purchase Based > Apparel > Women’s Activewear / Yoga: Online High Spenders
- Men’s activewear high spenders: Retail Shoppers: Purchase Based > Apparel > Men’s Apparel (Clothing): Men’s Activewear: High Spenders
- Athletic footwear high spenders: Retail Shoppers: Purchase Based > Apparel > Footwear (Shoes): Athletic Footwear: High Spenders
- Golf equipment frequent spenders: Retail Shoppers: Purchase Based > Sporting Goods, Apparel > Golf Equipment, Apparel, Entertainment Frequent Spenders
- Sporting goods shoppers: Mobile Location Models > Visits > Sporting Goods Shoppers
Athletes
For brands catering to athletes and sports enthusiasts, targeting active players is crucial. Offer products, training tips, and motivational content that inspire and empower them to excel in their chosen sports.
Here are 5 audience segments that you can activate to target athletes:
- Likely to play sports: Lifestyle and Interests (Affinity) > Sports and Recreation
- Plays Hockey
- Plays Soccer
- Plays Tennis
- Likely to play golf: Lifestyle and Interests (Affinity) > Activities and Entertainment > Play Golf
- NEW! E-motion riders: Retail Shoppers: Purchase Based > Outdoor Activities > EMotion Riders E-Scooters E-Bikes E-Skateboards
Influencer marketing campaigns
Collaborate with influential athletes or sports personalities to create sponsored content that resonates with sports fans. You can pair our Social media heavy user audience with our Likely to be a sports enthusiast and TrueTouch conversion channel audiences to reach those who are likely to be influenced by endorsements from celebrities or athletes.
Targeted advertising in sports with Experian audiences
By using Experian’s syndicated audiences in sports advertising, you can reach sporting goods shoppers, passionate sports fans, active players, and enthusiastic spectators. Our deep understanding of people in the offline and digital worlds provides you with a persistent linkage of personally identifiable information (PII) data and digital identifiers, ensuring you rich insights, accurate targeting across devices, improved addressability, and measurable advertising.
Just as athletes strive for excellence, with the right approach, your advertising in sports initiatives will stand out as champions in the arena of consumer engagement. Can’t find the audience you’re looking for or need a custom audience? Connect with our audience team for more information.
You can activate our syndicated audiences on-the-shelf of most major platforms. For a full list of Experian’s syndicated audiences and activation destinations, download our syndicated audiences guide.
Check out other seasonal audiences you can activate today.
Footnote
* “Fair Lending Friendly” indicates data fields that Experian has made available without use of certain demographic attributes that may increase the likelihood of discriminatory practices prohibited by the Fair Housing Act (“FHA”) and Equal Credit Opportunity Act (“ECOA”). These excluded attributes include, but may not be limited to, race, color, religion, national origin, sex, marital status, age, disability, handicap, family status, ancestry, sexual orientation, unfavorable military discharge, and gender. Experian’s provision of Fair Lending Friendly indicators does not constitute legal advice or otherwise assures your compliance with the FHA, ECOA, or any other applicable laws. Clients should seek legal advice with respect to your use of data in connection with lending decisions or application and compliance with applicable laws.
Latest posts
Coffee drinkers in America Coffee plays such an integral part of every day life in America that it may be safe to say that coffee helps the United States go round. In fact, fully 60% of all U.S. households use either whole or ground coffee beans at home. Experian Simmons extensively reviewed the American coffee drinker for this report which features detailed insights into the coffee-drinking American. In addition, we compare the patrons of Dunkin’ Donuts and Starbucks, the leading players in the battle for brew. Coffee in the Home The average U.S. household that uses whole or ground coffee consumes 4.2 cups per day. In total that’s about 280.5 million cups of coffee consumed at home by Americans each day or about 102 billion cups per year. Among households that use coffee, 89% stock regular coffee and 46% stock decaf.* Among households that use coffee, 84% use pre-ground coffee and 26% use whole bean coffee at least some of the time.* Instant Flavored Coffee Over a quarter of households (27%) stock instant coffee. Sixteen percent of households use instant flavored coffee. The most commonly used flavors among instant flavored coffee drinkers are: Older Americans More Likely to Drink Coffee Fifty-seven percent of adults ages 18-24 live in households that use coffee, but 25 to 34 year olds are the least likely to stock coffee in their cupboards with only 54% reporting they use whole or ground bean coffee at home. Coffee Use Increases with Household Income Seventy percent of Americans who report annual household incomes of $150,000+ drink coffee compared with 54% of those with household income less than $25,000. Dunkin' Donuts Vs. Starbucks Dunkin' Donuts 11% of American adults go to DD Between 9.15.08 and 9.15.09 the share of DD customers who go there 6+ times a month is up 11%* DD consumers are 41% more likely than the average adult to be registered Independents and 9% less likely to be registered Republicans Starbucks 13% of American adults go to Starbucks Between 9.15.08 and 9.15.09 the share of Starbucks customers who go there 6+ times a month is down 22% Starbucks consumers are 11% more likely to be registered Independents and 11% more likely to be registered Republicans Coffee Drinkers Are Coffee Drinkers A majority of coffee-drinking Americans are loyal to their franchise. However, there are a considerable number of Dunkin’ Donuts and Starbucks consumers who jump between coffee houses. How Often Americans Order Their Coffee The majority of both Dunkin’ Donuts and Starbucks customers visit each chain between one and five times in a typical month. Learn more about Simmons consumer research and studies.
Two-thirds of U.S. Households Use Coupons Two-thirds of American households (67%) use coupons. And while the vast majority of households using coupons (87%) say they use them to save money, 30% also say that coupons are a way for them to try out new products. Newspapers are still the number one coupon source with 70% of coupon households still getting their coupons from a newspaper. The Internet is growing as a coupon source. A quarter of coupon households get coupons online today, up 46% in the last three years. What Americans Buy With Their coupons Nearly half of all American households use coupons to buy food/grocery products making them the most common items purchased with coupons followed by cleaning products and beauty/grooming products. Seven percent of households buy tobacco using coupons. Where Are Coupons Redeemed? Given that half of U.S. households use coupons for food/grocery products, it’s no surprise that 60% of all households redeem coupons in supermarket, grocery or convenient stores. While only a quarter of all households use coupons at restaurants/fast food chains, that number has risen by 9% since 2006, when 23% of households redeemed coupons at restaurants. Coupons Attract New Consumers With the start of the holiday shopping season around the corner retailers want to make sure consumers visit their store and/or website. One way to drive consumer traffic is with coupons. Close to 50 percent of American adults say they are likely to be drawn to a store they don’t normally shop at by a coupon. The Experian Simmons retail shopping segment known as Mall Maniacs make up just 12% of all shoppers, but that group is 82% more likely to be drawn to a new store by a coupon. Percentage of U.S. Adult Population by Shopping Segment Mall Maniacs and Status Strivers are 66% and 26% more likely, respectively, to appreciate getting emails that announce new products and services. Identifying these consumers is key to maximize online marketing dollars. Additionally, with more and more consumers shopping online, companies should ensure that coupons are redeemable both online and in-stores.
Definition of an NHL and Non-NHL fan The behaviors and preferences of National Hockey League (NHL) and non-NHL fans are compared in this report. Below are the definitions of each consumer type: NHL fans are 18+ adults who are either “very”, “somewhat”, or “a little bit” interested in NHL Non-NHL fans are 18+ adults who are “not at all” interested in NHL Who Are NHL Fans? Compared to 2006, there are 11 percent more American adults who are NHL fans*. And with 52 percent of its fans under the age of 45, the NHL’s fan base is – for the most part – young. NHL Fans Are Educated and Well Paid NHL fans are more likely than non-NHL fans to have graduated college and attained a graduate degree. The benefits of their higher education is clear as NHL fans are 64 percent more likely than non-NHL fans to personally earn an income of $150,000 or more annually. Next we’ll examine a few luxuries NHL fans enjoy: home-ownership, watches, and vehicles. Home Owners Seventy-seven percent of NHL fans own their place of residence. The graph below charts the percentage of NHL and non-NHL fans who own any resident type (includes house, condominium, co-op and mobile home). As illustrated, there are more NHL fans than non-fans who own homes that value at $300,000 or more. Watches Twenty-six percent of NHL fans purchased a watch for themselves or someone else in the last 12 months and their tastes are not cheap. NHL fans are 2.6 times more likely than non-fans to have spent $500 or more on a timepiece. Vehicles Similar to their watch purchasing behavior, NHL fans are willing to splurge on their vehicles. For their most recent vehicle purchase, NHL fans were 13 percent more likely than non-NHL fans to spend over $30,000. Internet Purchases NHL fans spend big online. During the last 12 months, NHL fans spent a total $9.9 billion on Internet purchases. Among those who made a purchase in the last year, NHL fans are 25 percent more likely than non-NHL fans to spend $1,000 or more online during the year. In fact, 41 percent of NHL fans who shop the Internet spend at least $500 online a year. Business Purchase Decision Makers The previous slides established that NHL fans have expensive taste and aren’t troubled spending extra to purchase personal items. However, can the same be said for business-related purchases? Indeed it can. Not only are there more NHL fans than non-fans making business purchase decisions, they’re also 54 percent more likely than non-fans to spend $100,000 or more on office products. Conclusion The National Hockey League has a growing fan base that doesn’t mind spending extra for products and services.