FDS conducts research in to the world of sports sponsorship

During 2007, FDS International, in conjunction with the Iris Network of independent research agencies, conducted telephone and face-to-face interviews with 9,307 consumers in 16 countries in Europe, North America, Asia and Australasia.

The research examines the relationships between spectating, viewing, reading and talking about sports, on both national and global levels.  In addition, it also identifies key companies associated with sports sponsorship, and sporting heroes.

In general, European countries tend to show lower levels of interest than the US, Australia and Asian countries, but have relatively higher participation rates.  In fact the UK is the only EU country we looked at in which participation is lower than the international average;  with more than ¾ of respondents claim to be fairly or very interested in sports in general; whilst just 50% of these actually participate in sports.

The study also highlighted a significant difference between male and female participation when it comes to sports.  Internationally, women are only 10% less likely to be interested in sport than men, but they are 62% less likely to actually participate in sport, and 43% less likely to attend live events.

When it comes to sporting heroes, the UK and the rest of the world still hail David Beckham as the golden boy of the sports world.  Despite no longer being a regular player in the England team at the time this research was conducted, he achieves more than double the number of mentions than his nearest competitor, Michael Schumacher.  Uniquely, David Beckham is mentioned by both sexes almost equally; his personal brand has resonances that cross demographic boundaries

To see the full report please click here