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Hockey Fandom and its Impact on Sponsorship Performance
A new hockey season is upon us.
As the Vegas Golden Knights (+850) are favoured to win the Stanley Cup, with Edmonton not far behind (+800), we at Elevent dove into fandom and its impact as part of the most recent Elevent national survey.
In Canada, hockey is the favourite sport by a long shot: 2/3 of the population consider themselves hockey fans (at various degrees). Pro football (CFL) follows hockey at 42%, followed by pro basketball (34%), tennis and F1 (33%), and MLS (29%).
Three quarters of all men and close to 43% of women self-report as fans. Talk about a national sport.
Actions speak louder than words (or self-reported fandom)
While the loosely self-reported fandom is interesting, hockey teams and sponsors tend to focus on engaged fans, that we categorized as die-hard and passionate fans. This is for a reason: these fans tend to showcase their fandom through actions a lot more than occasional fans, and these actions tend to involve their time and their wallet.
While looking at specific actions by fans, there are clear statistically significant differences between the different groups when looking at statements such as “I purchased merchandise” (+15% between die-hard and occasional fans), “I watched all the games during the season” (+21%), “I purchased tickets to see the game” (+14%).
Fan engagement between teams
One surprising fact of this study is that while the number of fans varies significantly based on a series of factors such as past success (looking at you Canadiens’ fans), market size, and recent success, the distribution of the level of fandom within each of the seven Canadian teams is surprisingly stable. Die-hard fans vary from 29 % for the Oilers and Senators (almost all percentage within the error margin) to 23% or 24% for the Canucks and the Leafs, respectively (some fans must be frustrated by their team’s performance). Occasional fans follow the same trend, oscillating between 41% and 46%.
Impact on sponsorship
There is a direct, strong impact between fandom level and sponsorship performance: the higher the fandom, the better.
The Elevent study reveals better recall (+26%) when comparing die-hard to occasional fans. Having the ability to correctly remember or identify the brand sponsor is the first step to having any kind of impact from a sponsorship investment.
There is also a direct link between fandom and the willingness to engage (WTE, Elevent’s very own sponsorship performance predictor). WTE refers to actions such as fans taking part in a sponsor’s contest, taking samples, researching information about the brand sponsor, and even purchasing products or services, sometimes doing so willingly to support their favourite team.
Conclusion
Fandom is certainly a driver of sponsorship performance, but that does not mean that the brand only needs to focus on the 30-50% of engaged fans. Casual fans represent a great opportunity to connect with a larger audience, and that is what pro sports can afford brands: a reason to connect to a big audience and foster the sense of engagement and community that comes with attending a live game or congregating at a bar with strangers.
Do you feel you have sufficient data on sponsorship audiences? Are you currently measuring sponsorship effectiveness?
