With the Olympic Games Paris 2024 drawing near, YouGov has provided an in-depth analysis examining the various ways people are following the competition.
Utilizing data from Global Fan Profiles, this article delves into the sports that consumers in Asia are most likely to follow when the games commence on July 26 in Paris. While interests differ globally, some common trends are evident within regional markets.
Across Asia, racquet sports have prominence in multiple major markets, a stat that sets it apart from markets in North and South America as well as Europe. Badminton tops the list in India (21%) and Indonesia (32%), while also being followed by a quarter of Chinese (24%) consumers.
Tennis is the second most popular sport in India, followed by 19% of the population. Tennis also features in the top five in the UAE (17%), although soccer (28%), swimming (21%) and basketball (20%) are more commonly followed.
Beyond racquet sports, swimming and soccer are the other commonly followed sports within these diverse set of Asian markets. They feature within the top five most popular sports in every market.
There are variances too, however. For instance, hockey is among the most popular sports in India (18%), but isn’t a top five in any of the other markets examined. In China, table tennis is comfortably the most followed Summer Olympics sport, with 32% of consumers showing interest, but doesn’t make the top five elsewhere.