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Young football fans shunning TV in favour of online for footy info

On what is traditionally the biggest day for football TV viewing figures, younger generations of fans this Boxing Day will turn to online instead of TV to get their fix of footy info, research by Statista finds.

88% of 18–24-year-old football fans will go online this Boxing Day to check scores and read match reports, while only 63% will turn on the TV, 25% will read news in print, 18% will get their info from the radio and 40% will get information from other sources.

Statista’s European Football Benchmark report

For older fans (over the age of 50), though, TV remains the most popular source for information, with 80% set to tune in this Boxing Day, compared with just 67% using online, 54% reading print, and 27% listening to the radio.

In terms of print and online, younger fans will turn mainly to dedicated football sites like FourFourTwo and Football365 while older fans will stick to the traditional national newspapers.

Alexander Kunst, senior research at Statista said: “This is a huge insight for advertisers. Younger generations of football fans are a key target for major brands, who have traditionally pumped a lot of money into TV as their premier channel of choice.

“A huge number of brands have already shifted their ad budgets online, and there’s an argument to suggest that the same should happen with TV ads spend around football.”

Statista’s findings come from its European Football Benchmark report — one of the most in-depth reports ever compiled on the clubs, sponsors and fans across the biggest five football leagues in Europe.

Statista’s European Football Benchmark report draws on the insights from 15,000 fans of major football clubs in England, France, Germany, Italy and Spain.

It assesses the reach and reputation of the world’s most popular sport, exploring how the different leagues stack up against each other in terms of fan engagement, sponsorship, merchandising, investment and attitudes of fans.

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