Why You Should Make Tennis Part of Your Advertising Plan
Why You Should Make Tennis Part of Your Advertising Plan
You should watch tennis. Yes, really. I mean it.
The scoring is a little weird, I agree. But you get used to it pretty quickly. And it’s hard to tell where the players are from sometimes. But hey! Geography lesson! I didn’t know where Estonia was, either. And I know that the summer of lessons you took when you were 10 years old didn’t go all that well, but that’s not GAME’s fault.
Allow yourself to get past all of that, and embrace what the game is. Like boxing, it’s just two people alone in the arena, trying to get the upper hand. Unlike boxing, they can’t retreat to a corner for encouragement and advice from their coach. While they’re out there, they’re on their own. You can see the players, and hear them. Elation and frustration at the outcome of each volley is evident. The ball is moving as fast as or faster than a baseball off a bat. And the accuracy and athleticism necessary to position, reposition, and deliver a return into the corner or right down the line is incredible.
As a business owner, why should you consider tennis as a part of your advertising plan? Two of the biggest tournaments in tennis – Wimbledon and the U.S. Open – occur this summer. ESPN networks traditionally have extensive coverage of each, including the championship matches, and viewership is on the rise.
With larger windows of opportunity to advertise to these viewers during live coverage, you can stay relevant to an affluent, educated, active, and passionate fan base. And since ESPN has the lion’s share of tennis coverage, cable television is a one-stop shop for reaching that audience.
Viewership of ESPN’s two-week coverage of London’s Wimbledon — the grandfather of all tennis tournaments — climbed 26% in 2022 over the previous year, with an average of 647,000 viewers over more than 150 hours of programming.*
The U.S. Open, from Queens, New York, will be held in the weeks surrounding Labor Day, in late August and September. In 2022, U.S. Open viewership was the highest it’s been in years, averaging 1.2 million viewers over nearly 168 hours of wall-to-wall coverage*.
Targeting tennis enthusiasts in 2023 provides tremendous value in attracting new customers as 80% of fans are college-educated and have an average HH income of over $120K. These fans spend on average 17.9 hours watching cable TV per week and 11.7 hours per week on the internet.**
Not only are tennis fans watching on every possible screen but studies have shown they are more likely to take action after seeing an ad. They are 42% more likely to respond after seeing a commercial on cable TV and 37% more likely after an ad was served on a streaming app.**
So, yes. Be sure to tune in for tennis, and use it to attract its audience to your business. This valuable demographic could be the missing puzzle piece for your upcoming advertising partnership at the local level. Contact your a4 account executive today.
Source: 1) ESPN PressRoom release, 2) 2022 AudienceSCAN® - Tennis Fans