Horizon Media fielded its latest Finger on the Pulse Survey surrounding the 2014 FIFA World Cup, which has been viewed by a staggering 50% of U.S. consumers. While public opinion suggests that soccer will fade back into obscurity in the United States after the World Cup, survey results suggest that the sport has staying power, due largely in part to Millennials.
When survey respondents are asked when they thought that soccer would become “a major U.S. sport, contending with prolific U.S. sports such as baseball, football, hockey, and basketball,” almost half of all people questioned said that soccer either already is (22%) or will be in the next five years (23%). In fact, more than half (55%) of survey respondents say the U.S. has a chance of winning the World Cup in the next four years.
“Like millions of others, I’ve been fascinated by the unprecedented national attention paid to the 2014 World Cup,” said Kirk Olson, VP of Trendsights at Horizon Media. “But the reason why soccer is the sport of America’s future is due to the millions of Millennials who are more engaged with the sport than any other generation, and it remains to be seen whether Major League Soccer will ride the wave to a bigger audience. But one thing is certain: Millennials like soccer. It’s their sport. They’re willing to own it.”
Millennials — now 77 million strong — are indeed leading World Cup viewership. 57% of them are watching it, compared with 48% of Gen Xers and 43% of Boomers. Millennials are also generating the most optimism and enthusiasm for the sport, and they are more engaged with it than any other generational segment. Nielsen live plus same-day ratings confirm that Millennials are the force driving viewership numbers. Out of 60 matches televised between the start of the World Cup and the Brazil vs. Germany semi-final, 43 posted higher ratings among adults 18-34 than among adults 35-64. More telling is that out of 45 group round matches in which the U.S. did not play, 37 posted their highest ratings among adults 18-34.
When World Cup viewers were asked if they identify with countries and heritages other than the U.S., Millennials were more likely than any other age group to personally identify with a non-European country. This carried over into the teams they support. Millennials were almost twice as likely as Gen Xers and seven times more likely than Boomers to say a non-European team is the primary team they root for — even over the USA.
So why are Millennials tuning in heavily and so highly engaged in soccer? The Finger on the Pulse Survey suggests that Millennials watch soccer because they know how the game is played. A third of Millennials (33%) either currently play soccer or had played soccer in the past (compared to 23% of Gen Xers and 5% of Boomers). And while three-quarters of older World Cup viewers told us they watch mainly support the USA, almost half of Millennials (43%) said instead that they watch “because I like to watch soccer.”
Regardless of age, of the 50% of consumers that are not watching the World Cup, two thirds (67%) of respondents reason that they are not soccer fans, one third (34%) of respondents say they aren’t sports fans in general, and one quarter (23%) of respondents say they simply don’t enjoy the World Cup.
