Following the Closing Ceremony on 11 August, 2024, GeoPoll and mediaReach OMD reached out to respondents in Ghana and Nigeria again to explore how their actual viewership of the games compared to their pre-Olympics’ interest and intentions. The follow-up survey also assessed respondents’ intention to watch the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games and the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics. This post details findings from the follow-up survey.

Viewership of the Paris 2024 Olympics

In the Pre-Olympics Survey, 97% of respondents in Nigeria and 92% of respondents in Ghana said they intended to watch the 2024 Paris Olympics. Although dropping slightly, the percentage of respondents that said they did watch the games remains exceptionally high. Almost all respondents in Nigeria claim to have watched (95%) along with 86% of respondents in Ghana.

The slight decrease in actual viewership versus intent may be partially explained by the fact that a majority of respondents said there were major happenings or news that affected their viewership of the games.

Across countries, the events respondents were most interested in watching include football, athletics, basketball, swimming, and boxing. Football was by far the most popular event in Nigeria (51%) while Athletics was the most popular in Ghana (49%).

The fanfare of the Opening Ceremony drew a majority share of respondents in both Ghana (50%) and Nigeria (62%). An even larger share tuned in to watch their preferred games or events (72% in Ghana and 63% in Nigeria).

When it comes to following their favorite events, respondents are much more likely to watch the entire event than to just tune in for the quarterfinals, semifinals, finals, and/or medal ceremony.

Interest in the games goes beyond borders. Respondents in Ghana and Nigeria were just as likely if not more likely to watch or follow games or events that athletes from other countries were partaking in than events with athletes from their own country.

With the United States topping the gold and overall medal count, it follows that the majority of respondents watched games or events involving US athletes. Excitement around the gold medal match in men’s football between Spain and France, the men’s basketball final between the US and France, the women’s football final between the US and Brazil, and the women’s football bronze medal match between Germany and Spain help to explain the large number of respondents that watched events involving those countries.

Media Consumption Habits

TV was the device of choice for watching the games, followed by mobile phone. Watching via mobile phone was particularly popular in Nigeria (68%). The top three platforms for watching the games in Nigeria were DStv (51%), streaming sites (51%), and GOtv (44%). In Ghana, the top three platforms were DStv (46%), streaming sites (44%), and terrestrial television stations (40%).

Respondents primarily watched the games live on TV rather than catching up via replays or news highlights.

In terms of setting, most respondents watched the games…

Viewership increased throughout the day, with the highest percentage of respondents watching in the evenings from 6pm to 11pm.

Olympics Sports Betting

Betting on the Olympics primarily followed expectations leading up to the games. In the Pre-Olympic Wurvey, 42% of respondents in Ghana said they expected to participate in betting. After the games, 45% said that they did participate. In Nigeria, 61% expected to bet compared to 59% that actually did.

The most popular betting platforms in Ghana were SportyBet (63%), Betway (18%), and 1XBET (8%). In Nigeria the most popular platforms were Bet9ja (35%), SportyBet (28%), BetKing (11%), and 1XBET (11%).

Paris 2024 Paralympic Games

The Paris 2024 Paralympic Games were held from 28 August to 8 September. Prior to the games, most respondents in Ghana were aware that Ghana would be participating in the games (75%). Awareness climbed to 83% in Nigeria. The majority of respondents in both countries said they were at least somewhat likely to follow the games.

Los Angeles 2028 Olympics

Looking ahead, 72% of respondents in Ghana and 67% of respondents in Nigeria said they are likely to watch or follow the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

Disappointment in their team’s success in Paris, particularly for fans in Nigeria, is likely dampening excitement for Los Angeles. When asked if their likelihood to watch the 2028 Olympics would change if there was a good representation of Ghanaian/Nigerian athletes, 66% of respondents in Ghana and 79% in Nigeria said that it would.

In addition to wanting to see a good representation of local athletes, almost all respondents said they would like to see more local brands associate with the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.

Olympics Fan Experiences

Fans have always played a vital role in sport, and when it comes to the Olympics, the shared experiences of fans help bring together entire nations in support of their athletes. While fan experiences have traditionally revolved around the live event and arena of the games, fan experiences today can be both physical and digital, extending beyond the borders of the host country into the homes, bars, screens, and public spaces of participating countries around the world.

In our study, we asked respondents how interested they would be in attending official Olympics fan experiences for the 2028 Olympics in their home city, such as public viewings, interactive exhibits, athlete meet-and-greets, etc.

In both Ghana and Nigeria, most rate their interest in fan experiences as either very interested or extremely interested.

About This Survey

GeoPoll conducted this survey, in collaboration with mediaReach OMD, using its proprietary mobile web research platform. The survey reached 1,176 respondents, leveraging the OMD Consumer Intelligence (OCI) panel in Ghana and Nigeria.

Data collection occurred from 21-27 August, 2024.

The diverse sample for the study includes a gender composition of 73% male and 36% female, and an age breakdown of 8% ages 18-24, 53% ages 25-34, and 40% ages 35 and older.

For more information on the sample and methodology for this study or to conduct a research study of your own in Africa or around the world, contact GeoPoll today.

For more information about mediaReach OMD and its services, please visit www.mediareachomd.com.

To view the detailed report with findings and insights gathered prior to the 2024 Paris Olympics, please visit the OMD Consumer Intelligence Platform or download the report here: https://www.mediareachomd.com/olympicsreport

The post GeoPoll Paris 2024 Post-Olympics Survey appeared first on GeoPoll.

As athletes complete their final preparations for Paris 2024, GeoPoll, in collaboration with mediaReach OMD, conducted a survey to assess public perceptions around the games. The study was conducted using GeoPoll’s mobile web platform, surveying more than 2,250 respondents in Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, and Tanzania. Topics covered include awareness of the games, interest, viewing intentions, favorite events, media consumption habits, betting trends, and perceptions of the event’s cultural and social impact.

The findings reveal a robust interest among Africans for the 2024 Paris Olympics, with a significant percentage rating their interest at the highest level.

Key Findings

• General Interest: Across countries, most rate their interest in the games as very interested (37%) or extremely interested (24%), and 93% said they intend to watch the games.
• Favorite Sports: Football stands out as the event respondents are most interested in watching – particularly in Ghana (57%) and Nigeria (56%). Other highly anticipated events include athletics (31%), swimming (21%), basketball (18%), and boxing (15%).
• Favorite Programming: The majority of respondents intend to watch the opening ceremonies (55%), and 64% say they prefer to watch their favorite events in their entirety rather than just tuning in for the quarterfinals, semifinals, and finals.
• Viewership: TV remains the device of choice for watching the games (80%). However, 60% of respondents also plan to follow the games on their mobile phone. The incidence increases to 72% in Nigeria.
• Viewing Times: Viewership is projected to increase throughout the day, with respondents saying they are most likely to watch in the evening from 6pm to 11pm (55%).
• Anticipated Category Behavior: The survey also identified opportunities for brands, as viewers intend to upgrade data plans, socialize with friends, engage in sports betting, and consume soft drinks and alcohol, among other activities.

50% plan to engage in betting on the Olympics

The perceived importance of the Olympics goes beyond Paris or the final medal count. From this study, 72% respondents believe the Olympics has a cultural and social impact in their countries. These findings underscore the immense enthusiasm Africans have for the Olympics and the wide array of sports that will captivate audiences worldwide.

For a more detailed report with insights, please visit the OMD Consumer Intelligence Platform or download the report here: https://www.mediareachomd.com/olympicsreport

About This Survey

GeoPoll conducted this survey, in collaboration with mediaReach OMD, using its proprietary mobile web research platform. The survey reached 2,261 respondents, leveraging GeoPoll Audience Measurement (GAM) panels in Kenya and Tanzania, and The OMD Consumer Intelligence (OCI) panel in Ghana and Nigeria.

Data collection occurred from 31 May to 16 June, 2024. The survey was offered in English in Ghana, Kenya, and Nigeria, and in English and Swahili in Tanzania.

The diverse sample for the study includes a gender composition of 66% male and 34% female, and an age breakdown of 12% ages 18-24, 55% ages 25-34, and 33% ages 35 and older.

For more information on the sample and methodology for this study or to conduct a research study of your own in Africa or around the world, contact GeoPoll today.

For more information about mediaReach OMD and its services, please visit www.mediareachomd.com.

The post GeoPoll 2024 Paris Olympics Survey: Insights for Brands and Stakeholders appeared first on GeoPoll.

In the week prior to the start of the games, GeoPoll conducted a survey to gather information on planned viewing habits, betting activities, and brand/ad awareness surrounding the event. The study was conducted using GeoPoll’s mobile web platform, surveying more than 3,600 respondents in Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Ghana, Tanzania, Egypt, Brazil, Colombia and China. The topics covered include:

• Interest in sports and the Olympics
• Intent to watch or follow the games
• How people plan to watch/follow the games
• Most anticipated events and athletes
• Advertisements and brands associated with the games
• Opinions about the decision to move forward with the games despite ongoing concerns related to COVID-19
• Involvement in sports betting and plans to bet on the Olympics

This post details the initial insights from our survey. View and sort the data across demographics using the interactive dashboard below.

Olympics Viewing Interest and Intent

Respondents report strong overall interest in both sports in general and the Olympics. More than 1 out of 4 (29%) rate their interest in the Olympics a 10 (“very high”) on a 10-point scale. More than half (58%) rate their interest an 8 or higher. Respondents in Brazil and China express the most interest, with 76% and 72% respectively rating it an 8 or higher. In Ghana, only 40% rate their interest that high. Men express more high-level interest (62%) than women (57%), and older respondents (ages 36+) express far more interest than respondents ages 16-25 (66% to 56%).

Interest in the Tokyo Olympics shows at least some relation to success in previous Olympics. The chart above shows the percentage of respondents in each country that rated their interest in the Tokyo games an 8 or higher on a 10-point scale in relation to the overall number of medals won by each country in the 2016 games in Rio de Janeiro.

When asked to compare their interest in the Tokyo Olympics to the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics, most (53%) say they are at least somewhat more interested in the Tokyo games. Another 24% say they are equally interested.

The substantial levels of interest overall explain why 46% of respondents plan to watch or follow “a lot” of the games. That number drops down to 37% for younger male and female respondents (ages 16-25). Only 5% across demographics do not plan to watch the games “at all.”

In most countries, the highest percentage of respondents by far plan to watch or follow the games via television. China and Egypt emerge as the outliers. In China, more respondents plan to follow the games using their mobile phones (87%) than television (80%). Most in China plan to follow the games using 3 or more different devices. Across countries, respondents ages 16-25 are more likely to use their phones than the older age groups, and men are more likely than women (61% to 53%).

Out of all the respondents that plan to watch/follow the games to some extent, 56% plan to do it through social media. More respondents plan to watch the games via “Pay TV” (51%) than “Free to Air TV” (50%), and most (56%) claim to know which TV stations/channels will be showing the games. Respondents in China are the most informed, with 87% claiming to know. In addition to social media and TV, many also plan to follow the games using “websites” (40%) and “streaming platforms” (38%). Intended platform usage varies significantly across countries and age groups (see the dashboard below).

Variances between countries are even more pronounced when it comes to favorite events. Football/soccer stands out as the event respondents are most interested in watching in Brazil, Colombia, Egypt, Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa, and Tanzania. More than half the respondents in Egypt (54%) pick football as their favorite event.

Kenya’s dominant runners help make “athletics/track and field” the most anticipated event in that country (38%). Athletics is also highly anticipated in Ghana (19%) and South Africa (17%).

China has dominated table tennis more than any other country in any other Olympic sport. More than 50% of respondents in China pick table tennis as one of the five events they are most interested in watching, and 18% select it as their favorite event overall (much more than any other event in that country).

Across demographics, the five events respondents express the most interest in watching include:

When forced to pick one event, nothing comes close to football at 33%.

COVID-19 Concerns and Perceptions

The coronavirus pandemic has cast a dark cloud over the Tokyo Olympics for the past year, leading to eventual postponement in 2020. With COVID-19 cases again on the rise, many Japanese citizens, media outlets, and members of the medical community are calling for the games to be cancelled. Respondents in our study, however, overwhelmingly believe the games should be held in July as scheduled (67%). Men are more likely to believe the games should go on as planned than women (71% to 62%). Only 5% of respondents believe the 2021 Tokyo Olympics should be canceled. Respondents in China, the closest country in proximity to Japan, and South Africa, which is currently dealing with a devastating third wave of the virus, are the most likely to believe the games should be postponed again to a later date (26% and 28% respectively).

Despite Japan setting strict rules for athletes and spectators to prevent the spread of the virus, several cases have been reported in the week before the games, including three members of the South African football squad. It is unclear whether any athletes that tested positive had been vaccinated. In our study, 58% of respondents strongly support requiring all athletes to be vaccinated in order to compete. Attitudes vary significantly by country, however. In Kenya, 70% strongly support mandatory vaccination compared to 32% in Tanzania. Tanzania has the highest percentage that strongly opposes mandatory vaccination at 17%, likely due to the late President Magafuli’s anti-vaccine stance. Older respondents (ages 36 and over) are more likely to strongly support vaccination than respondents ages 16-25 (64% compared to 52%).

Vaccine availability and distribution remain serious issues across the globe, particularly in developing nations, including several surveyed in this study. Despite delayed vaccine rollouts in their country, most respondents in Kenya (72%), Ghana (68%), Colombia (63%), South Africa (58%), Nigeria (56%), and Brazil (55%) strongly support giving Olympic athletes priority access to the vaccine. Older respondents are more likely to strongly support prioritizing athletes than younger respondents (65% to 48%). Tanzania once again has the lowest percentage that strongly support giving athletes priority access to the vaccine (33%) and highest percentage that strongly oppose it (16%).

Betting on the Olympic Games

The global sports betting industry reached a market size of 203 billion U.S. dollars in 2020. Many countries participate in legal sports betting, one of the more recent additions being the United States in 2019. The increased availability and penetration of mobile technology around the world has played a major role in the recent upsurge in sports betting and paints a bright outlook for its future. According to a report by Technavio, the global sports betting market is expected to grow by $144.44 billion between 2020-2025.

In our study, more than half of respondents (53%) say they have engaged in sports betting in the past. Men are much more likely to have engaged than women (60% to 45%). Most men (67%) and women (50%) ages 26-35 have engaged in betting.

In Kenya, like in many other African countries, gambling is classified and positioned as a legitimate recreational and leisure activity. More than 71% of respondents in Kenya report having engaged in sports betting in the past. At the lower end of the range, only 28% of respondents in Egypt have engaged in sports betting. Egypt and Brazil (43%) are the only countries in our survey below 50%.

The sheer volume of events and athletes included in the Olympics presents a variety of opportunities for sports betting. While 41% of respondents across demographics plan to place bets on an Olympic event, 23% say they are “not sure” – suggesting the number of actual bettors could rise. Almost half of respondents ages 26-35 plan to bet (46%) compared to just 38% of the other age groups.

Nigeria and South Africa form two of the largest sports betting markets in Africa. They also express the most interest in placing bets on the Olympics (48% and 46% respectively). At the other end of the scale, only 27% of respondents in Egypt and 28% of respondents in Brazil plan to place bets.

Interactive Data Dashboard

Dive deeper into GeoPoll’s data on the interests, planned viewing habits, and betting behaviors surrounding the 2021 Olympics using the dashboard below. You can view all the data from this study, filterable by country, age group, gender, and question.

Conduct Further Research with GeoPoll

GeoPoll is the pioneer in conducting remote research through mobile-based methodologies in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Our custom research capabilities allow agencies, brands, and international development organizations to conduct one-off or ongoing surveys on any topic, with results delivered in near real-time.

This GeoPoll survey was conducted using GeoPoll’s mobile web platform in the week prior to the start of the 2021 Tokyo Olympics in Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Ghana, Tanzania, Egypt, Brazil, Colombia and China, surveying approximately 400 respondents from each country. It is not purely a scientific study as there were no strict measures to limit demographic quotas such as location, gender, and age groups. However, a good mix of young and old, urban and rural, and men and women with a natural distribution was achieved.

To request more information about this study or further studies on Olympics viewership and audience measurement, or to get a quote for an upcoming project of your own, please contact us.

The post GeoPoll 2021 Tokyo Olympics Survey: Consumer Interest, Viewing Intent and Betting Behaviors appeared first on GeoPoll.

In April this year, GeoPoll ran a quantitative nationwide survey via mobile SMS to a sample of 1300 respondents whose demography had a 50:50 male to female ratio aged 18-45 years old. Our objective was to gain a deeper understanding of the Kenyan betting consumer, their consumption and gambling behavior, drivers, motivations and decision-making patterns.

In this article, we share some of the findings, particularly from the low-income earners who fall in the lowest social economic class according to Living Standards Measures (LSM).

In Sub-Saharan Africa, gambling has become a multi-billion dollar business. It is estimated that by the year 2022, the global gambling market could be worth $635 billion according to new findings by Dublin-based Research and Markets.

A 2017 PWC report put Kenya and Nigeria among the three largest gambling markets in Africa behind South Africa.  In addition, a 2017 GeoPoll study observed that gambling was becoming popular particularly among males in SSA due to their high affinity towards sports and technology, combined with the proliferation of local sports betting players and the convenience of the mobile phone as a tool for gambling.

Gambling: The Billion Dollar Industry in Africa

The gambling industry in Kenya has several sub-sectors including gaming, lotteries, sports betting and prize competitions. Kenya currently has more than 30 licensed betting firms and casinos.

A gambling outlook 2017-2021 report by PWC shows that the yearly turnover of the sports betting industry in Kenya is worth $20 million, and will reach $50 million in 2020 as demand grows. The formal Kenyan betting industry, which paid $28.3 million in taxes in 2015, is ranked third in Africa after South Africa and Nigeria, as reported by Business Daily.

Figures from the Kenyan gambling regulator, Betting Control and Licensing Board (BCLB), show that gross gambling revenue for the 2016/2017 financial year was nearly Ksh 20 billion ($198m) – equivalent to about half of the annual health budget according to businesstoday.co.ke.

Why Kenya has become a hotbed for Sport Betting

In Kenya, like in many other African countries, gambling is classified and positioned as a legitimate recreational and leisure activity. The rise of mobile and online based gambling has presented new challenges to the regulatory board amidst growing concerns on addiction towards sports betting.

Although gambling in Kenya has been around for some time now, the upsurge in sports betting has been due to the burgeoning of mobile phones and internet penetration, as our 2017 survey demonstrated.

The unprecedented success of sports betting companies can be seen with SportPesa- a betting company started in 2013, which managed to accumulate revenue enough to fund major premier leagues in Kenya before breaking into the international arena. Our study found SportPesa to be the most popular online platform in Kenya with 82% percent of gamblers subscribing to it, followed by Betin 40%, Elitebet 22%, Betika 12%, Mcheza 12%, and Betpawa 10%.

The success of this booming industry is also evidenced by the advertising spend of top betting companies. According to the latest data from Reelforge. the traditional top 10 advertising spenders have been overtaken by multiple gaming companies.

Understanding the Gambling Low Income Consumer

Low-income earners classified as LSM DE, who, according to a 2017 KARF establishment survey constitute 54% of Kenya’s population, offer a rich target market for the betting industry. According to our survey, the betting industry’s rags to riches narrative of poor rural folk holding huge cheques outside their mud huts, and stories of overnight millionaires has continued to resonate with the poor and low-income earners. While our study found that this group bets with amounts as low as KSH 10 – 50, their huge numbers multiply the tiny quantities into millions.

Their Demographic Profile

The gambling low-income consumers are spread out across the various demographic breaks such as age, gender, location with higher skews on particular profiles such as those of males of a certain age based in the urban areas. Both males and females participate in gambling, though our data show that males participate more often.

Across the age groups, it is notable that about half of low-income gambling consumers are 18-25 years. It is likely that the youth are most involved given the high affinity to mobile phones, sports, and unemployment rates.

According to the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics 2018 data, 7 million Kenyans are unemployed and out of this 1.4 million have been desperately looking for work. Our survey found that the highest proportion (40%) of the low-income gambling consumer is unemployed, and a third (29%) are students. This shows that a significant percentage of the low-income gambling consumer hope that gambling will turn into a source of income for them.

Custom Gambling Surveys

If you would like to commission a bespoke survey to understand the share of wallet effect that gambling is having on your goods and services, contact us today.

The post Understanding the Kenyan Gambling Consumer: Insights on Sports Betting appeared first on GeoPoll.

According to  Betting Control and Licensing Board (BCLB), there are close to 30 licensed sports betting companies Kenya with SportPesa touted as the largest and most popular.

Just how popular is it?

There has previously been no hard data to support the claim that SportPesa is the largest with many only speculating on just how much time Kenyans are spending on the betting sites in comparison to other popular websites such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

As part of Kantar-GeoPoll Media Measurement‘s daily surveys on audience habits for TV, radio, print and Internet, GeoPoll is pleased to release this report on the top 10 websites in the month of September 2016. To learn more about KGMM, see a demo of the system, and sign up for an account please contact us. 

Facebook Still King, SportPesa ranked No. 8

Although Facebook continues to be the most frequented website by Kenyans with a total of 15M indicating that they visited the site in the month of September, SportPesa was the 8th most visited website with a total of 1.5M visits.   Whatsapp and Opera Mini were among the top five though they are platforms and not strictly websites.

Women in Sports Betting
Sports  betting is believed to be a preserve of menfolk, however, according to our survey, a total of 498,000 women indicated that they have visited the sports betting site within the last month. This is in comparison to over 900,000 men who included SportPesa among their sites they had visited in the same period.

Sports betting is slowly becoming the new past time for a number Kenyans with those aged between 25-34 years showing the most interest. In our next report, we will be sharing the rankings for all sports betting companies in Kenya.

To get a complete breakdown of the daily surveys on audience habits for internet, Tv, radio and print, and filtering by demographics and psychographics, please click below to subscribe or see a demo of Kantar GeoPoll Media Measurement.

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