United States apathetic toward World Cup

Despite an estimated US 420 million invested in partnerships by United States-based corporations to gain international attention, the country trails others when it comes to football passion.
 
The latest GMIPoll, provided by market intelligence solutions provider GMI (Global Market Insite, Inc.), reveals that 56 percent of United States World Cup fans do not know that it will take place in Germany, and only one in 10 plans to follow the tournament.
 
More than 50 percent of United States fans either "didn’t know" companies that were official partners or incorrectly identified them. Out of a list of international brands, those polled selected adidas most frequently (27 percent), followed by Nike (25 percent), and Coca-Cola (16 percent). Nike is not an official partner, but likely gained from its advertising in the states and abroad, where 31 percent of fans chose it. In Brazil, more fans selected Nike (59 percent) than Adidas (44 percent).
 
A total of 11,352 respondents in 12 countries (Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, Italy, Russia, Turkey, the United Kingdom and United States) were polled. Only 11 percent of 1,000 respondents in the United States said they were "definitely" going to watch the World Cup. An additional 23 percent were only "somewhat likely" to do so. Despite these numbers, ABC and ESPN expect more Americans to watch this tournament due to better viewing time zones and high expectations for the national team, which FIFA currently ranks as high as No. 4 internationally.
 
ABC, ESPN, and Spanish-language broadcaster Univisión recently paid US 450 million to FIFA for the exclusive United States television rights. In 2002, roughly 3.9 million Americans watched the World Cup final out of 1.1 billion viewers worldwide, according to an estimate from Nielsen Media Research.
 
Despite the United States team’s high ranking, the poll revealed that U.S. fans selected Europe (39 percent) and South America (34 percent) over North America (6 percent) as regions that excel at football.
 
The business revelation was that United States companies could score dividends in global markets, but less so within the states. The survey data showed that more than 95 percent of international fans will follow the tournament on television, with 93 percent choosing to watch matches at home over the local pub (32 percent).
 
In Britain, 94 percent of football fans also choose their home as their preferred viewing spot, but more than half also selected the pub. Of the Americans who are definitely going to follow the World Cup, 78 percent said they would view it on television while 40 percent will follow over the Internet.
 
For ad buyers and marketers that might not be able to afford sponsorship or ad rates, these stats point to outside marketing opportunities during the month-long tournament, which will be televised in 189 countries.

Source: euFootball.BIZ © Copyright 2006 - All rights reserved.