Source: www.insideradio.com, June 2022
Although major league sports are very visual entertainment, many Americans choose to listen to those sports on the radio because they can take the games and sports talk with them throughout their active and mobile lives.
Analysis of proprietary 2021 data from Local Sports Insights, a sports research service, reveals the adults 18+ who are fans of the five major league sports by the primary ethnic groups. Caucasian Americans over-indexed the most as fans of the NHL at 123, African Americans the NBA at 164, Latinx Americans the MLS at 164 and Asian Americans the NBA at 134.
This basic data from Local Sports Insights can then be correlated with The Media Audit’s new 2021 Aggregate Report of 49 consumer/market surveys to show adults 18+ who are heavily exposed to radio (defined as 180+ minutes during the average day) and their major league sports listening on radio during the past 12 months by their ethnicity and gender.
As shown in the table below, men 18+ in the four primary ethnic groups who are heavily exposed to radio over-indexed for listening to major league sports on the radio in the same categories as they are fans of those sports: Caucasian Americans NHL at 123, African Americans the NBA at 171, Latinx Americans the MLS at 156 and Asian Americans the NBA at 128.
Interestingly, men 18+ who are heavily exposed to radio and listened to major league sports also over-indexed in other sports, not just those of which they are the biggest fans. Radio, therefore, becomes a very efficient and effective medium to reach a wide range of sports fans and present targeted promotional opportunities.
Women 18+ are also big sports fans and they also over-indexed by ethnicity for the same major league sports as men 18+: Caucasian Americans the NHL at 122, African Americans the NBA at 163, Latinx Americans the MLS at 179 and Asian Americans the NBA at 136.
Women who are heavily exposed to radio over-indexed by ethnicity somewhat differently than men 18+ for listening to major league sports on the radio. Women’s listening is more concentrated in fewer sports than men, but women of various ethnicities over-indexed more than men.
