What you need to know
The UK spectator sports market has enjoyed a recent period of strong underlying growth, with event attendances in 2014 exceeded only by the Olympic year of 2012 and ticket expenditure boosted by advance sales for the 2015 Rugby World Cup.
For the large majority of people, experience of live sport is primarily through television, although the continuing migration of broadcast rights to pay channels is reducing the number of events and major occasions that remain available free-to-air.
The future of the market, both in-home and in-stadium, is now set to be driven by technological change. The arrival of 4K/Ultra HD pictures followed by augmented and virtual reality will offer more immersive viewing via television, while the smartphone will become the ‘remote control’ of the connected stadium as fans seek to enhance their experience through the consumption and (increasingly) creation of digital content.
Covered in this report
This report focuses on UK adults’ experience of watching live spectator sport, either at an event venue, on television or via the internet. Listening to live radio commentary and watching television highlights or live coverage on a time-shift basis are not included in the core definition of the report.
Market value estimations comprise consumer expenditure on sports event tickets only. Spending on sports television and internet service subscriptions is excluded, as is secondary expenditure at spectator sports venues (on food, beverages, merchandise etc).
