The Sports Business Journal reports that television viewer data for 25 sports, including the UFC, boxing and pro wrestling, reflect that the median age of TV viewers have increased from 2006 to 2016.
The commissioned study by Magna Global, shows that pro wrestling, the UFC and action sports have shown the most dramatic increase in median age from 2006 to 2016. The UFC’s median age is now 49, which reflects an increase of 15 years which means that the median age in 2006 was 34. For pro wrestling, the median age is 54 which reflects a 21-year increase which makes the 2006 median age for pro wrestling 33 years old.
Of the 25 sports reviewed, only WTA Tennis, decreased in age demo with it going down from 63 years of age to 58.
There’s been no big change to boxing’s demo as its median age has gone up just 4 years since 2000. It is 49 in 2016 and was 45 16 years previous.
Notably, the youngest viewing audience according to the study was the Mexican football (soccer) league system, Liga BBVA Bancomer (MX), which has a median age of 32 years old in 2006 and 39 years old in 2016. Second was International soccer, 35 in 2006 and 39 in 2016. MLS was third youngest audience with the median age being 39 in 2006 and 40 in 2016.
Payout Perspective:
There were several takeaways from the study. First, soccer seems to have the youngest audience. I am not a big soccer fan so I do not really understand the fascination with the sport from a younger demo.
Next, the sports properties with which we think are competing demos have shown the aging in their sports. The aforementioned pro wrestling, UFC and action sports (median age in 2016: 47, median age in 2006: 34). Also, Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series increased by 9 years in the 2006 to 2016 span (49 years old to 48 years old). This means that the fans (most likely) have been loyal throughout the years which is a positive.
But, one may argue that this means that the sports are not doing a good job in cultivating a younger demo. Traditionally, the younger demo, which is attractive to advertisers, has more spending power as they aren’t tied down with kids, mortgages, etc. There are mitigating factors here. For the younger demo, there are the cord-cutters and cord-nevers (those that never paid for TV) which would not be captured in this study. Also, the birth of over the top platforms has happened in the past couple years which would not be registered in the study as well. Finally, the changing landscape of TV viewership has changed over 10 years which may skew the demos.
In the end, the study may mean that the likes of the UFC and pro wrestling may shift its focus on advertising sales to an older demo. Or, make a stronger pitch to the younger demo to attract those advertisers.
Leave a Reply