In our latest report Post PC Era: English Premier League & Mobiles we wanted to understand how popular the Premier League is across the world.
We were also interested in how global fans watch football games, how they access football news and which brands they associate with the sponsorship of the Premier League.
The survey was sent to 7,340 respondents in 11 countries via the mobile Internet.
Global Premier League audience:
37% of global mobile media users follow the English Premier League, and it's even more popular in South Africa and some of the Arab states, than in the UK.
Premier League viewing habits:
71% of UK mobile media users who follow the Premier League, use their mobile to access football news, equal to TV usage.
Mobile is also the preferred channel for accessing football news in the key growth markets of Brazil, China and Indonesia.
These results show what a global phenomenon Premier League football is and how mobile is now a serious competitor to TV when it comes to screen of choice for football fans.
Currently 20% of global mobile media users who follow the Premier League, watch football on their mobile, increasing to 24% in the UK. With the trend towards a ‘mobile only’ society and with the introduction of 4G, the number of fans watching football on their mobiles is likely to increase.
Sponsorship:
In the UK, Premier League fans correctly identified Barclays as the Premiership sponsor. However affiliation declined outside the UK and instead sponsorship was associated with other global brands or no brand was identified.
It’s surprising that even though Barclays has signed up to be the global title sponsor of the English Premier League, in countries outside the UK many Premier League followers could not correctly identify the sponsor.
In Saudi Arabia for example, only 10% of football fans identified Barclays as the sponsor of the Premier League and 34% could not identify a sponsor at all.
This does however, present opportunities for official sponsors who want to increase their global awareness and for brands, who want to be affiliated with Premier League football.
You can also watch our CEO Alistair Hill, talk to SmartMonkeyTV about the results and the rise of global mobile football viewing.
