SportBusiness.com

The findings from SportZ – the brand survey formula commissioned by WPP Group and conducted by brand, media and communications research company Millward Brown – revealed 15.8m sports fans in the UK opted to watch Wimbledon, compared to the 14.8m who claimed they watched the World Cup.
The WPP SportZ study analyses the opinions of 2,000 UK consumers about their interest, participation, views and images of key sports, events and teams.
According to SportZ more than 6.1m in UK claim tennis is one of their favourite sporting events. An overwhelming two-thirds (4.4m) are women who rate it top of their favourites, ahead of the summer Olympics, rugby, football, athletics, snooker and Formula 1. For men soccer dominates, particularly the World Cup which is preferred four times more than Wimbledon.
However, when it comes to sports the British find ‘interesting’, football comes out tops among both men and women with Formula 1 being second, athletics third, then snooker, cricket and tennis.
According to Peter Walshe, global director at Millward Brown and lead researcher of the SportZ study: “The attraction of Wimbledon is more than simply tennis. Much of the draw is the event itself. Our findings show that those who watch tennis like to be seen at events. They also tend to be interested in horseracing.
“The Wimbledon fan is middle aged, with a comfortable lifestyle and is more likely to be a Waitrose or Marks & Spencer shopper. They are particularly fond of Thornton’s chocolates and are more likely to drink champagne (36 percent) than the average World Cup fan (29 percent).
“They tend to read The Telegraph or Guardian and are more avid consumers of cinema and magazines than those who watch the World Cup.
“The data from the new SportZ survey will help marketers to decide where and when sponsorship money is best allocated in order to improve brand awareness, drive brand growth and impact on the business’ bottom line.”