Spotlight: Uncovering the Layers of a Sports Fanbase

By Dorothy Nam

Sports attract people from various backgrounds and demographics, as they can provide fans with a sense of community, entertainment, leisure, or motivation. While the common interest may reside in the game itself, how a fanbase interacts with a given sport can range widely.

From having a strong passion for a specific team, or generally following sporting events and updates, there are pertinent layers to a fanbase that can uncover stories about family history, personal life goals, and beyond.

As media landscapes shift and new technology (Hello, A.I.!) continues to increase in availability and variety, allowing fans access to several resources and types of content, the tell-tale adage ‘quality over quantity’ remains true. Discerning nuanced differences among presumably similar audiences can reveal insights on what draws people into a sport, specifying more relevant marketing and messaging that elicit a deeper connection among fans.

In this case study spotlight, we emphasize W5’s role in supporting a women’s sports organization to understand what draws fans in, along with their perceptions of the organization, to guide future brand development and marketing initiatives.

Case Study: Uncovering the Layers of a Sports Fanbase

A leading sports association of female professional athletes sought to learn more about their fanbase and delve deeper into segments developed by W5 in a previous iteration of the project. Following the development of the fan segments, the sports association collaborated with W5 for additional qualitative segment insight to explore emerging hypotheses and identify opportunities for each segment.

Approach

To understand the role of the sport in each segment’s lives, W5 conducted an engaging three-day online discussion featuring a series of creative activities and tasks around the study’s key questions. Next, select participants were invited for an in-depth interview to further explore more detailed insights on the ways they not only interact with the specific sport but with sports media and content in general and what they’d like to see from current athletes and the organization.

Results

The research established a detailed understanding of each segment and their experiences and outlooks with the sport, as well as their expectations for marketing and messaging. The client came away with engagement opportunities for future branding and insight to not only maintain current fans, but also build and attract a more engaged and entertained fanbase. 

No matter the industry, knowing exactly what attracts your brand’s biggest fans helps you create more focused and targeted marketing strategies. Not sure where to start? Set up a call with the W5 team.