Sports Word of Mouth
by John Moore, TalkTrack® Conversationalist, January 24, 2011Tags: Brands, Keller Fay Group, research, Social media, sports, TalkTrack®, WOM, word of mouth
The NCAA recently crowned its national champion in football. NFL playoffs are in full swing. The NBA and NHL are in mid-season. MLB teams will be reporting to spring training soon. And, the NCAA’s March Madness basketball tournament is just around the corner. We’re in the throes of sports, sports, and more sports. Because we are in the throes of sports, Americans are talking about sports.
A Harris Interactive poll from 2010 finds 35% of Americans say professional football (NFL) is their favorite sport. Baseball (MLB) is the second most favorite sport with 16% of the vote. College Football is next on the list at 12% and Auto Racing is fourth with 9% of Americans saying these sports are their favorite.
Keller Fay’s ongoing TalkTrack® study measures the quantity and quality of conversations Americans have about brands and products, including conversations about sports and sports teams. From Keller Fay stats, we know 42% of Americans have at least one conversation every day about sports ranging from products, brands, to sports teams.
Recently, Keller Fay updated TalkTrack data on the sports category. This data supports the Harris Interactive poll showing the NFL as the most popular American sport. There are many reasons why the NFL is so popular ranging from its aggressive nature to its rich history to its television-friendly game play. And interestingly, Keller Fay research reveals of the top 20 most talked about professional sports teams, 14 are from the NFL.
The New York Jets, according to Keller Fay data, were the most talked about pro sports team in 2010. Given the franchise’s storied history, its loyal fans, the exposure from the HBO series “Hard Knocks,” and the talk worthy cast of characters on the team, it’s no wonder the New York Jets were mentioned the most by Americans in 2010.
How about the other teams in the Keller Fay-compiled list of the Most Talked About Pro Teams in America? Where do the New England Patriots rank? Given the Lebron James departure to the Miami Heat, do the Heat make the list or do the Cleveland Cavaliers make it instead? Which major league baseball teams make the list? Riffle through this SlideShare presentation to find out…
In measuring the quality of brand-related word of mouth (WOM) conversations Americans have, Keller Fay uses a Net Advocacy Score, which shows the ratio of positive talk to negative talk people have about a brand/product/service, with neutral sentiment not being calculated. The higher the score, the more positive people are in their conversations about a brand. And conversely, the lower the score, the more negative people are.
The baseline Net Advocacy Score across all product categories Keller Fay measures is 43. When it comes to sports categories, the baseline Net Advocacy is 37. However, there are sports categories where conversations are overwhelmingly positive.
The 2010 Vancouver Olympics were rich with compelling human interest stories as well as stories about individual and team accomplishments. The Net Advocacy Score for the 2010 Olympics was a stellar 52. Conversely, the 2010 World Cup soccer tournament fared poorly with a Net Advocacy score of only 23.
As the chart below shows, the World Cup’s Net Advocacy Score was hurt by significant indifference. Meaning, 25% of conversations Americans had about the World Cup were mixed, neither positive nor negative. While soccer is the most popular sport in the world, with fanaticism galore, in America, soccer is an emerging sport with low levels of strong advocacy.
Keller Fay has lots more interesting data on word of mouth about sports. In the next post, you’ll learn who the most active and passionate talkers are, what they talk about, and their influence in shaping conversations Americans have about brands and products.
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