Australian Open tennis scores TV viewers across the board

Nearly 6.7 million Australians (36% of the population) aged 14 years and over say that they watch the Australian Open on television, according to just released research from Roy Morgan.

The Roy Morgan Single Source data (collected for the period October 2010 to September 2011) indicates that the Australian Open tennis telecast has a slightly stronger appeal for women than men. 51% of these Australian Open TV viewers are women (representing 37% of all Australian women aged 14+ years) while 49% are men (representing 36% of the Australian male population aged 14+ years).

In terms of sport participation, 1.35 million Australians 14 years and over play tennis regularly or occasionally, representing 7% of this population. Tennis participation among Australians 14 years and over skews towards men, who make up 59% of this group, with men outnumbering female tennis players by 44%.

While the Australian Open TV broadcast appears to have a broad appeal in terms of gender, looking at the data for the different generation groups reveals that the Australian Open is slightly more popular among older TV viewers. For example, it is watched by nearly half of the Pre-Boomer generation group, but by less than a third of each Generations Y and Z.

Looking at a breakdown of the TV audience reveals that 44% of Australian Open viewers are Baby Boomers or Pre-Boomers, whilst Generations Y and Z account for 29% of Australians 14 years and over who almost always or occasionally watch the Australian Open on TV.

Conversely, participation in the sport shows a distinct skew towards the younger generations, with Generations Y and Z accounting for 56% of all Australians aged 14+ who play tennis (regularly or occasionally), compared to just 19% that is made up by Pre-Boomers and Baby Boomers.

In the middle, Generation X is the only group that makes up nearly the same proportion of both TV viewers and participants: they account for 26% of 'almost always/occasional' Australian Open TV viewers and 25% of regular/occasional tennis players.

Roy Morgan Research Industry Director - Media George Pesutto explains that "while the TV audience for the Australian Open does skew slightly to older generations, we're still seeing that a significant proportion of each of the other generations is tuning in to the Australian Open - demonstrating that this event definitely has a very broad appeal.

"The Australian Open is the clear winner in terms of TV sports watched by women - in fact it's the only major sport that's watched by more women than men. This event clearly provides a great opportunity for sponsors and advertisers wanting to reach both men and women.

"You obviously don't have to play the game in order to be a fan. In fact, given the size of the Australian Open TV audience, it's almost surprising that more people don't pick up a racquet."

For more information go to www.roymorgan.com

11th June 2008 - CRICKET NUMBER ONE TV SPORT