There are 13 million sports fans in Australia, almost half are women, and they're all consuming it more than ever across different devices.
The Kantar Media Sport and TV Sports Markets, released in partnership with Perform, found Australian sport fans watched 8.5 hours a week, up from 6.3 hours a year ago.
On average, sports fans followed four to five sports with cricket leading the charge in the favourite stakes, followed by tennis and rugby league.
Cricket fans are also more likely to be engaged with advertising associated with the sport. Thirty-seven percent of cricket fans said they were more likely to be interested in a brand that sponsor or advertise around sport compared to 28% of overall sports fans.
In the past two years, 63% of fans have changed how they consume sports media with 58% of respondents watching it online at some point. Sixty-three percent have also consumed sports content through smartphones or tablets while 92% still do so through laptop or desktop computers.
Significantly, 15% of fans said they were willing to pay for sport content online, up from 9% the previous year.
Twenty-nine percent of fans follow sport via social media with Facebook the most popular, followed by YouTube.
Perform Australia managing director James Rushton said: “This second annual report into how Australians are engaging with sports media confirms our belief that fans are increasing their demand for content across a range of platforms.
“Sports fans can now get more of what they want in more ways, more of the time, which provides really exciting opportunities for rights holders, publishers and brands.”
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