Future of Fantasy

Relay Insights: The Reality of Fantasy Sports Participation
The start of the 2009 NFL season also marks the start of fantasy football
season, which for some devoted fans is the highlight of their football
experience.
The Fantasy Sports Trade Association estimates that nearly 30 million
people are playing fantasy sports across North America ? scanning the
waiver wire, analyzing injury reports, watching six games at once and
cheering for fourth-quarter scores by teams down by 28 points.
Most marketers may assume fantasy participants are the stereotypical
18-24, beer-guzzling, jersey-wearing, single male, and this perception may
be causing many brands to miss out on what is actually a much broader and
passionate audience.
Based on research provided by our friends at Scarborough Sports Marketing,
marketers may want to take a deeper look at engaging more with fantasy
sports participants after all.
According to Scarborough, 83.9% of fantasy participants are male; however,
women have increasingly become more interested in fantasy sports, with a
36% increase since 2007 ? bringing females to 16.1% of participants in
2009. And though 84.2% are white, Hispanics have been the fastest growing
ethnic group, increasing 27% since 2007.
If those figures aren?t surprising enough, 37.4% of fantasy participants
have a household income over $100,000 (61% more likely than a member of
the general population = 161 index), 38% have a college degree (147
index), most own their own home (73.2%) and 59.2% of participants are
married.
And while 50% of participants are ages 18-34 (164 index), the fastest
growing age demographic is the 60+ group who has increased 28% since 2007.

Meanwhile, what markets are the hotbeds for fantasy activity? The top 5
DMAs for fantasy sports participants (in order) might surprise you:
Milwaukee, St. Louis, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Cincinnati.
So, if you are evaluating if fantasy participants are an attractive
audience for your brand, consider ways to go beyond online ad units to
engage this audience. The power of fantasy sports is in the connections
within the thousands of communities who play. Create ways to help them get
together, interact and share statistics and information, and you can score
big for your brand.

Checkout relayworldwide.com