In yesterday’s blog post, we discussed some attributes and habits of men’s and women’s NCAA basketball tournament views. We noted that men are 2.5 times more likely than women to say they watch the men’s tourney and are also more likely than women to watch the women’s tourney. Here are some more interesting facts:
On the women’s tournament side, the viewing audience skews older and less affluent than the men’s tourney. About 25% of women’s tournament viewers are age 65 or older. This compares to 17% for the men. The women’s tournament captures a disproportionate percentage of viewers who are retired (22%). The corresponding percentage for the men is 16%. The women’s tournament also draws a lower share of viewers from the highly coveted 18 to 49 year-old age demographic (45%) compared to the men (55%). With older viewers, it makes sense that the women’s audience is 1.5 times more likely to read a daily newspaper.
College graduates comprise approximately 33% of the women’s audience and 43% of the men’s audience.
College graduates comprise approximately 33% of the women’s audience and 43% of the men’s audience. For the men, this is 1.6 times the percentage of the overall population with a college degree.
Based on an index value that identifies behaviors that are more common among tournament viewers (an index of 200 indicates that the behavior is 2 times more prevalent among tournament viewers compared to the overall population), women’s tournament viewers are more inclined to shop at an office supply store (128), home furnishings store (128), or a home electronics store (124) compared to the incidence of the overall population shopping at these types of stores. Viewers of the women’s tournament are also more likely to visit a variety of quick service or fast food restaurants including Subway (129), Wendy’s (133), Burger King (132), and KFC (144).
Over half of women’s tournament viewers say they walk for exercise. This is a 22% higher participation rate compared to the general population. Other popular sports activities among women’s viewers are golf (176), soccer (156), tennis (153), and jogging/running (130).
Both men’s (146) and women’s (162) viewers have a high propensity to say that they are more likely to buy products from companies that sponsor sports teams and sports events.
The rising availability of the internet as a broadcast channel for viewing tournament coverage has a larger impact on the men’s audience than the women’s audience. About 27% of men’s tournament viewers agree that because of the internet, they spend less time watching television programs on a television. This compares to 20% for women’s tournament viewers.
Websites that attract a significant proportion of men’s tournament viewers include CBS Sports, ESPN, and FOX Sports. About 65% of men’s tournament viewers say they have visited the CBS Sports website within the past 30 days. The corresponding percentage for ESPN and FOX Sports are 57% and 56% respectively. Interest in football, golf, and baseball also appear to be strong indicators of men’s basketball tournament viewership. Advertisers that keep these kinds of facts in mind can more precisely target their audiences during major sporting events like March Madness.