55% of Asia Pacific to Follow Soccer World Cup

55% of Consumers in Asia Pacific to Follow Soccer World Cup 2010: Nielsen
• Within the region, South Koreans are most keen to watch the World Cup while Indonesians are the game’s biggest fans
• 40% favour Brazil to win 2010 World Cup

Auckland, 9 JUNE 2010: With the World Cup finals due to kick off in Johannesburg on 11 June, a global survey conducted by The Nielsen Company reveals that 55 percent of consumers in the Asia Pacific will follow the games, even though only 28 percent indicate they are football fans. Globally, 51 percent indicate they will watch the game, and 34 percent consider themselves football fans.

In the Asia Pacific region, Indonesians declare themselves the most avid followers of football with more than half (54%) saying they are fans of the game, followed by Vietnamese (52%) and Indians (47%). In New Zealand, 26 percent consider themselves football fans, with 35 percent indicating they will watch the game. But the appeal of the finals appears to reach far beyond football’s usual fan base – the Nielsen figures reveal that in all Asia Pacific countries, intent to follow the games is much higher than the traditional football fan base. Countries with the highest level of intent to follow the finals were South Korea (76%), Vietnam (68%) and China (65%).

Around the world, Brazilians are the most fervent of football followers, with 69 percent describing themselves as a fan of the game, followed by consumers in Portugal (60%), Egypt (56%), Indonesia (54%), Saudi Arabia (54%), Spain (53%), Venezuela (53%), Vietnam (52%), Italy (48%) and India (47%).

While the finals clearly have enormous global appeal, focus is strongest in Latin America where an extraordinary 78 percent of people say they will follow the finals of football’s greatest prize. Globally, the countries with the highest level of intent to follow the finals are Brazil (84%), Argentina (83%), South Korea (76%), Portugal (75%), Italy (75%) and Mexico (74%) - see Chart 1.

“The Soccer World Cup appeals to an incredibly varied and global audience,” notes Christophe Cambournac, President of The Nielsen Company’s Consumer business in Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa. “The game unifies both fans and other consumers who are not ordinarily followers of the sport as they root for their favourite teams to win football’s most coveted prize. This presents a wealth of opportunities for businesses to meet the needs of their consumers, by understanding how they prefer to watch the games, and what they buy or consume during the matches.”

The World Cup’s most successful team of all time, five-time winner Brazil, is the strong favourite to triumph once again – over one-third of global consumers (34%) believe Brazil will take out the 2010 World Cup. In Asia, 40 percent are expecting Brazil to win.

Somewhat surprisingly, Euro 2008 champion Spain is only fancied by eight percent of football pundits globally. Nine percent of people think three-time world champions Germany will win again, while a further nine percent back Argentina, USA or England.

While the USA appears to be in with a strong chance, this is fuelled largely by a patriotic 46 percent of North Americans. Just four percent of people outside of North America rate USA’s chances as strongly.

The current World Champion, Italy, is backed by just six percent to repeat their winning performance of 2006. France, the winner in 1998, is backed by just five percent of people.

ENDS

© Scoop Media