Our presentation at the Quirk’s Event in New York City included insights from our Sports Poll, the first sports fan intelligence product in the US. We explained how five fan dynamics can help drive lifetime engagement. Many of you wanted to know how our approach can be applied to your audience.
In our series, “Using Sports Poll Fan Dynamics to Drive Lifetime Engagement,” we explore each dynamic in more detail and provide case studies that show them in action.
The five dynamics include: Priority, Community, Facilitators, Resources, and Generational DNA. Each dynamic is linked to higher fan engagement. The framework can apply to any type of free time activity, not just sports.
Our first release focused on “Priority.” This release focuses on “Community.”
Watching with Family and Friends is the Biggest Driver of Fans’ Enjoyment of Sports
More than a decade ago, we asked fans to describe the reasons why they enjoy sports. They could name anything they wanted. After analyzing their responses, we created a list based on the most frequent mentions:
- Watching with family or friends
- Following favorite teams
- Following favorite players
- Playing sports
- Sports video games
- Attending games
- Betting
For sports fans, social engagement (watching with family or friends) has consistently ranked as the top factor in their enjoyment. 89% of fans say watching with family or friends is at least a little bit important to their enjoyment. Nearly half of all fans say it is the most important factor. Fans engage in sports to feel stronger connections with others.
Watching with Family and Friends is Most Important to Fans of All Ages
The importance of factors varies by age. “Play”, whether it is participating in sports or playing sports video games, is more important to teens. Following a favorite team is more critical to engagement for older fans, especially those 55+. But watching with family or friends ranks as the most important factor for fans of all ages. The importance of family and friends to avidity sustains as fans mature. The difference is that fans’ social preferences evolve.
For teens, social viewing includes a mix of parents, siblings, and friends. For ages 18 to 34, social viewing is most likely to be with friends. By 35 to 54, significant others and kids are the most common viewing partners. For fans 55 and older, social engagement is typically with a significant other, but grandkids also become part of the viewing experience.
Sports is the Last Shared Live Social Viewing Experience
For 30 years, Sports Poll has asked fans how they typically watch sports. In 2024, over 60% of fans said they primarily watched with others (49% at their home with others, 7% at someone else’s home, 5% in a public place). Sports provides the last shared live viewing experience for Americans today. In addition, nearly 40% of Americans say sports is a planned social activity – meaning they watch with others and plan to get together in advance.
The planned element drives engagement even higher. The “planned social” fans are more likely to spend money on sports subscriptions. They will buy food and beverages to watch games. They’re also more likely to watch entire games, including commercials.
Fans of all Ages Watch with Others, but Social Viewing is Declining
The younger the fan, the more likely they are to watch with others. This has been true for the past 30 years. In 2024, over three quarters of fans age 12 to 17 said they typically watched with others, compared to just over 60% for fans age 18 to 34 and 35 to 54, and 54% for fans 55 and older. Those numbers are declining though. As smartphones and streaming services have grown in popularity over the past 15 years, social viewing has become less common.
Nearly 75% of sports viewers said they typically watched with others in 2011-12. That fell to 61% in 2023-24. The greatest declines have been with fans age 18 to 34, falling from 86% in 2011-12 to 63% in 2023-24. This age group is also the least likely to have cable/satellite subscriptions today. Declines for fans age 18 to 34 are troubling because this is the life stage when people start having families and kids of their own. Less social viewing means fewer opportunities to introduce their significant others or kids to sports.
Americans Crave Social Engagement in their Free Time
Connecting with others is a critical part of being a sports fan, but it is not unique to sports. We ask Americans to rate their free time priorities on Sports Poll. This includes specific activities (streaming, reading, video games, hiking, etc.), but we also ask how they prioritize their free time more broadly. These ten “buckets of free time” include time with family, time with friends, personal leisure, time outdoors, and other more general categories of free time.
Except for a dip during the pandemic, Americans have rated time with family as their highest priority since we began asking more than 20 years ago. Over two thirds of Americans say time with family or friends is a high priority in their free time (rating it 8-10 on a 0-10 scale). The importance of family and friends drives engagement toward the specific activities people choose to do, including attending live music events, outdoor activity, going to movies or theme parks, and more. For most free time activities, greater social opportunities lead to higher fan engagement.
Family and Friends is Only One Part of Building “Community” for Fans
Whether it is sports or other free time activities, the activity itself often serves as a vehicle for fans to connect with family and friends. They bring people together. Community extends beyond just family and friends though. Fans engage more when they have a stronger connection with their favorite teams or favorite schools. They do more when they have deeper bonds with their favorite athletes. They also engage more when they have a stronger connection with their local community.
Fans want to feel like they “belong” to teams, schools, and local communities. Yet community is increasingly threatened as many social activities become more expensive and isolated activities become easier and more engaging.
We’ll explore more elements of community throughout this series, so don’t miss our next release.
