By the end of the Tennis Masters Cup in Lisbon in December 2000 the Tennis Masters Series had been watched by over 1.3 million cumulative spectators in ten locations. Studies conducted amongst spectators are one of the most sensitive gauges of how a sport communicates itself, as this is the group most likely to have their opinions affected.

Spectators interviewed at three Masters Series events, in Rome, Miami and Hamburg, showed the fans to be evenly spilt between the sexes. They were skewed towards upscale groups and middle aged individuals – except in Rome where the average spectator was between 16-24.

Recall of sponsors was fairly even across the three locations. Mercedes for example achieved an average 41% unprompted recall, naturally slightly higher in Hamburg (44%). Awareness following name prompting was high with Mercedes at 94% and Fila at 81%. A very high 45% of fans watching in Rome claimed a propensity to buy sponsor good or services. Age did however seem to reduce this effect with (a still reasonable) 18% of the older fans in Hamburg expressing such a propensity. This group’s favourite player was Sampras, whereas the younger crowds in Italy and Miami preferred Agassi. At all three events never less than 61% had themselves played tennis at least once a month. Even in Hamburg where the audience was skewed towards over 45 year olds, 67% were regular players of the game.

The overwhelming reason for attendance (which was on average slightly higher than 1999) is of course the players, with an average 97% agreeing that ‘it’s fantastic to see the great players compete’. Ranked on a scale of 1 to 10, where 1 means ‘does not apply at all’ and 10 ‘applies fully’, spectators perceived male tennis players in very positive terms. The excitement and charisma of the younger players did however trail by a small margin the dominant perception of skill and professionalism. Interestingly, the negative perception of the stars being overpaid was much higher in Hamburg (7.6) and Rome (6.6) than in Miami (4.5).

For further information, please contact:

Virginie Zinsli,
Research Manager
Email: virginie.zinsli@islworld.com
Tel: 020 7616 1121