Audacy SVP: ‘Forever Fans’ are Listeners Sports Radio ‘Wants Most’

A recent dissertation from Audacy Senior Vice President, Head of Research and Insights, Idil Cakim, conveys that sports radio stations strive to reach a segment of the audience known as “forever fans.” Within the insight, Cakim trifurcates these groups into different parcels to accentuate the indispensable aspect of the latter. Casual fans will generally watch prime-time matchups and become more invested when a team contends for the playoffs, while core sports fans will follow their teams over the duration of the season and have a vested interest in the games.

Although these groups are valuable to advertisers, it is within the “forever fans” where the most return on investment is often realized. These diehard fans do not waver in their engagement during stretches of wins or losses and will consume the game in any way possible. Whether it is watching on television, traditional radio or streaming through their phone, they will always make sure to know the latest information about the franchise.

Moreover, they will generally spend more money on game tickets and allocate more funds for discretionary costs and provide strong ancillary revenue streams, including for concessions and parking. This group is also the most likely to bet on live games and consume sports media content, such as radio programs or television highlight shows. Ultimately, fandom is entrenched within their lives, causing one in every five of those rooted in baseball to lose sleep over games.

These fans tend to have more purchasing power, garnering an average median household income of $123,000. According to the Audacy study, 75% of decision-makers in the business world consider themselves sports fans and are 56% more likely to listen to sports on the radio.

Ninety-six percent of “affluent decision-makers” emanate from this realm and listen to at least one form of sports audio. The median age of these sports fans is 42 years, while sports fans in general are, on average, 50 years old.

Audacy sports content engenders the largest household income by audience, according to the company, and reaches 43 million listeners per month. Coming in second is ESPN’s television network at about $105,000 and FOX Sports 1 in third at just under $100,000.

Audacy also conveyed that small business owners are 49% more likely to consume sports through their company rather than others, and also finishes at the top of the category when it comes to auto intenders, home sellers and business decision makers.