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| FIFA President Joseph Blatter says: "Seventeen years after the fall of the Berlin wall, a reunified Germany will throw open its doors to the world. Germany 2006 will be a place where people from all around the world will be welcomed by friends, in the spirit of the striking slogan chosen by the organisers: Die Welt zu Gast bei Freunden." - - The opening game of the 2006 World Cup, will take place in Munich on Friday June 9th, between Germany and Costa Rica |
International advertising research group Initiative’s most recent ViewerTrack™ study shows that women around the world are increasingly tuning in to watch their favourite sports and sports idols on TV. Soccer is a particular favourite with women, which points to bigger global TV audiences for the 2006 World Cup than for the 2002 tournament, with an increased share of female viewing.
Initiative predicts record global female viewing for the 2006 FIFA World. This prediction is based on the clear upward trend in the popularity of women watching, not just soccer, but many other sports on TV. Given that matches will be broadcast at convenient times for Europeans with a European nation playing host to the tournament, the overall volume of viewers should be higher than those for the 2002 FIFA World Cup, and the female share of viewing could well be upwards of 41%.
As Ireland did not qualify for the 2006 World Cup we cannot expect the record global figures to be replicated here, however, the trend towards female viewing is evident. In 2005, international soccer matches emerged as the sporting events with the highest proportion of female viewers. 43% of adults watching international soccer were women compared to only 39% five years ago. Only 36% of viewers to the 2002 World Cup were female, while women made up 40% of people watching last year’s Euro 2004 Championship. This is on a par with global figures, which also showed that 40% of Euro 2004 viewers were female.
Traditionally, soccer is perceived as a male-dominated spectator sport, but viewing figures from Initiative’s ViewerTrack™ have increasingly revealed that this perception is becoming outdated. The increase in global viewing figures for last year’s Euro 2004 Championship is linked directly to the increase in female spectators.
The rise in popularity of soccer with women is attributed to a number of factors. These include:
Celebrity Players:
The number of footballers who appear on the front, as well as the back pages, of newspapers. As popular awareness of the most famous players has risen, this celebrity element appears to have attracted an increasing number of female fans.
Out-of-Home Community Viewing:
Holding World Cup 2002 in Japan & Korea, and thereby making football a breakfast and lunchtime event for Europeans, made watching football a more shared experience as groups of colleagues, of both sexes, watched the games together in the office or in the pub. Exposing a lot of people to soccer for the first time in this way has grown public awareness of what’s going on in the game.
Women’s soccer becoming mainstream:
Women’s soccer is growing in popularity, both as a spectator sport, and particularly among girls and young women, as a competitor sport.
GAA also remains popular with Irish women, a trend which has stayed constant in recent years. 42% of viewers to summer hurling and football championship matches in 2005 were female. The GAA’s intrinsic role in Irish communities, the family appeal, as well as the celebrity status adorned onto many county players by Irish females and the devotion to county are among the reasons why GAA is so popular with Irish women.
Golf and Premiership soccer rate as the sports with the lowest percentage of female viewers in Ireland.
The growing proportion of female sports fans has significant implications for broadcasters, advertisers and sponsors. In a multichannel era where most programmes, and most genres, are experiencing viewer decline due to fragmenting audiences, the growing popularity of sport among women is helping the major international tournaments to buck this trend and grow their audiences.
This is good news from a commercial perspective as it is leading to growing media and marketing investment in sports. Initiative predicts that as the female share of viewing continues to grow, where the money comes from will also evolve. Adding to the likes of beer or car brands, which tend to be male-targeted, and whose commercial interest in sport will remain as strong as ever, Initiative expects more investment in the future from brands that do not have a gender split.
Initiative tracked viewing data in 52 markets during Euro 2004.
