Crowd of MMA fans
A comprehensive study organized by Scarborough Sports Marketing comes to the conclusion that those reading MMAFrenzy.com (or any MMA website) are more likely to be between the ages of 18-30, homeowners, own video game systems, and possess a household income in the upper echelon of the income bracket.
The results of the study were initially publicized in a report by SportsBusiness Daily and posted by Bloody Elbow. An excerpt from the report summarizes the overall study and statistics contained therein.
Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) is attracting young, wealthy, high-tech consumers, according to Scarborough Sports Marketing’s first-ever look at the sport. MMA fans are defined as those adults who watched the sport on broadcast or cable TV during the past year. The six-month survey of 221,000 adults ages 18+ in 81 top U.S. markets, including every big-league city, found that MMA fans are 15% more likely than the average American adult to have a household income of at least $75,000 and 10% more likely to own a second home. MMA fans also are above the national average for current ownership of high-tech household items such as HDTVs, VOD service, video game systems and broadband Internet.
The demographics highlighted by this study are quite believable. Most MMA fans are usually on the younger side and most folks would be hard pressed to find someone that didn’t own some sort of video game system or high speed internet connection.
Where the results of this study become disconcerting is at the point where some people might pigeonhole MMA fans. A bunch of young adults who sit around their HDTVs playing Xbox 360 and watching PRIDE reruns, right? Whereas fans themselves know that their brethren are mostly working class individuals of all ages and walks of life. Heck, one has to be hard working to be able to afford a night out at a UFC event in Las Vegas…
Nonetheless, the study conducted would appear to hit home with many of those that love the sport of MMA and consider themselves to be hardcore fans.
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of course, who else can afford to pay for the pay per views?
First $50 bucks isn’t all that difficult to set aside to allow anyone to purchase a PPV…. $75,000 a year as the income is a interesting stat for most to believe, hell I don’t think owning a PS3 or XboX has anything to do with wealth, if thats wealth then some broke mofo’s are some of the wealthiest people ever…. You can get a HD tv Large Screen for a resonable rate at Costco or Sams Club for the SouthEast, but this is an intereesting article, thx Dustin
Sams Club is selling a Samsung 42″ Plasma for ~$600 on Black Friday, FYI.
:D
So…we’re all jcohl?
Ouch, I think…
So a guy making $40K/yr with his wife making $35K/yr suddenly is in the upper echelon of society’s income bracket? Maybe in Peru.
Interesting take, but really how many 18-30 year olds out there actually own an old school tube-TV, of no video game system of any kind , and are without the internet, regardless of whether or not they are even interested in MMA? It seems like an awfully easy pigeonhole.
One could probably make a case for the exact opposite conclusion as well, that the average MMA antagonist out there between the ages of 18-30 is also just as likely to own an HDTV, broadband internet and household income above $75K.
I like the idea behind the poll but I would like to see a little more on the control side.
When it comes to the broadband internet, outside of a select few under the age of 50, most people that live somewhere broadband is available, and make over 30k/yr have it. In fact I know many people that have nixed the cable bill for broadband, and watch TV on Hulu (or Torrents).
Also, $75k household income isn’t that high, it’s not that low either. (Poverty level for a family of 2 is $14,570). I would venture that $75k is around average household income for a two person household in the 18-30 demo, many couples I know in that demo fall right around 60-90k, with exceptions both over and under, of course. As far as someone owning two homes with a 75k/year income, well they’re either very small, or on the verge of foreclosure.
It also bears mentioning that here at the frenZy we conducted our own impromptu “poll” on a thread awhile back wherein some of our posters commented on what they did and liked outside of MMA in their so-called “real lives”, and to the best of my knowledge no one, including myself, could be catagorized as “wealthy”.
Also, at 32 years of age I don’t think too many people would still consider me “young”, and almost everyone on my block has a flatscreen, a game console, and the full spectrum of Comcastic services…
I do not have the flatscreen, but do have the other technologies, including an iPhone. Though I do not own either of the two premier “next gen” consoles.
The new breed of MMA fan is indeed young, wealthy, tech-savvy and most likely never been in a fight in their life or been in many confrontations they didn’t back out of.
The new breed of MMA fan can speak French, in Russian. And can disarm you with his looks, or his hands. The new MMA fan’s charm is so contagious, a vaccine was created for it.
In terms of getting in fights, I have to say that, at least in the US, the way that fights are prosecuted in the government schools would give most people of average intelligence pause before engaging in one, at least on school grounds. In our society of playing video games and social media, the school yard is one of the few places left for people to get into fights as a kid, and if you get punished equally for acting in self defense, the smart thing to do is back out.
HDTV – check
House – check
18-30 – check
X-box – check
75 000 grand a year – che…………aaah d@mmit guess im not a real fan after all.
What a BS poll, at least 90 percent of the peeps around here have a next gen console and broadband. WTF do a real poll!!
Lets not be too harsh here.
I think the point of the poll was to offer some cement proof that MMA fans [for the most part] are not the ghetto-dwelling, window-licking, mouth-breathing, slack-jawed, vacant-eyed trailer park zombies rocking poor dental hygiene that many MMA detractors wrongly and unfairly catagorize them to be.
Also, it’s not like Dustin conducted the poll. he was just incorporating the poll’s results into his piece, which I appreciated.
At least until dbiz zinged me…
;)
Also, this finding of this poll could attract more sponsors to the sport, which means more money for fighters, and don’t we all want that?
this article is interesting…especially if you’ve ever read Fight Club. Definately speaks to the halfway affulent young professionals that might be looking for an escape =]
this isn’t nascar