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2021 BUZZ REPORT the World’S Top-Ranked Events Across Ten Markets

2021 BUZZ REPORT the World’S Top-Ranked Events Across Ten Markets

2021 BUZZ REPORT The world’s top-ranked events across ten markets

sport.yougov.com WELCOME

Welcome to the 2021 edition of our SportsIndex Buzz Report – an expanded international report following on from seven years of our annual UK buzz reports.

In a year that saw the COVID-19 pandemic wreak havoc As you might expect, YouGov Sport’s Annual Buzz Report will on the world and its sport schedules – leaving some of therefore make different reading this year. This is also because Frank Saez Founder and the world’s biggest events in its wake – both fans and we have made changes to the scope of the report by including Managing Director the sports industry have shown great imagination, data we now collect on leagues and events from around the YouGov Sport fortitude and resilience in keeping sport alive. world. This year’s report takes a more global look at sport – diving into the buzz around sport across ten different markets. Despite the pandemic, sport did return, providing many fans with a welcome break from the reality of isolation We hope you will find this an insightful read about sport in a and quarantine. turbulent and unexpected year.

1 0 M A R K E T S Keep informed We regularly share industry insights from the data we UK draw from around the world every day. From tweets and blogs right through to in-depth reports, you can find it all US on our site. sport.yougov.com/insights Mexico UAE 2 SPORT.YOUGOV.COM 2021 Buzz Report Return to CONTENTS PAGE CONTENTS HEADLINES … EUROPE REST OF WORLD

INTRODUCTION

PERFORMANCE BY MARKET UK GERMANY US INDIA AUSTRALIA JAPAN BRAZIL MEXICO FRANCE UAE

CONCLUSION

ALBUQUERQUE, NEW MEXICO | 15 FEBRUARY 2020: Kendell Williams competes in the Women's Long Jump duringCONCORD, the 2020 NORTH CAROLINA, USATF IndoorUS | 11 ChampionshipsOCTOBER 2020: at AlbuquerqueDescription Convention Center.

3 SPORT.YOUGOV.COM 2021 Buzz Report Return to CONTENTS PAGE US NFL SHINES EARLY HEADLINES: With Super Bowl LIV falling prior to the pandemic outbreak and restrictions, the NFL sets an early high-water mark to top AMERICAS our rankings. While it’s no surprise to see the NFL top any of our sports rankings, when it comes to Buzz, it is unusual to see every top-ten peak score laid down by the fifth month of the US sports calendar.

The COVID-19 pandemic tore through schedules MEXICO in 2020, leaving some of the world’s biggest LIGA MX DOMINATES sporting events in its wake. Despite a strong showing by the NFL, Liga MX, the country’s premier football league, comfortably tops our Mexico rankings. BRAZIL BEAUTIFUL GAME With a late November surge, the Brazilian Série A overtakes a strong October showing by Formula 1 to take our 2020 Buzz title.

4 SPORT.YOUGOV.COM 2021 Buzz Report Return to CONTENTS PAGE GERMANY UP UP AND AWAY HEADLINES: The Vierschanzentournee Four Hills event escaped the start of the pandemic and out-scored EUROPE football’s to take FRANCE our 2020 Buzz title in Germany. A further ten football properties TOUR ON TOP make the top 10. 2020’s Tour was a genuine classic, with the winner being UK decided only on the final day of general classification racing as SIX IS FIRST the lead changed hands A February kick-off helps the between two countrymen. men’s This September excitement to top our UK rankings for the was enough to hold off a strong first time after years of strong October showing by the showings in the top five. With delayed French Open at Roland strong appeal to even casual Garros. fans, European rugby’s top national team competition shows it’s mettle by posting top- ten scores both pre and post the shut-down period. In March one of sport’s biggest events – the pan-European UEFA Euro 2020 football – was delayed due to COVID-19.

5 SPORT.YOUGOV.COM 2021 Buzz Report Return to CONTENTS PAGE UAE HEADLINES: FIFA KEEPS IT Despite diplomatic tensions, public perception in UAE has REST OF WORLD come through positively as the FIFA tops our 2020 Buzz rankings with the FIFA Club World Cup (hosted by UAE in 2017 & 2018) not far behind.

INDIA JAPAN AUSTRALIA IPL IS KING LET THE GAMES BEGIN JANUARY ACE Despite delay and a move to Prior to postponement, the Australia’s top 3 Buzz scores Dubai, the Indian Premier posted were posted in January, with the League records the highest Japan’s top Buzz score coming through as score across all our featured amongst a diverse collection of the clear winner two markets to nudge the ICC international events. A 2021 properties. Strong showings by for top repeat title would be no other sports as the country opened honours in India. surprise. up in the Autumn are not enough to dethrone the country’s signature event.

6 SPORT.YOUGOV.COM 2021 Buzz Report Return to CONTENTS PAGE ABOUT SPORTSINDEX

SportsIndex is one of YouGov Sport’s signature capabilities. It operates in 34 markets across the world, IMPRESSION tracking 200 key domestic and international properties FORMER across 30 sports. Twenty-one properties are tracked in CUSTOMER QUALITY every single market. CURRENT CUSTOMER VALUE (FOLLOW / In every market, it takes a list of the leading sports properties – a mix of SUPPORT) domestic and international events, competitions and leagues – and, from PURCHASE REPUTATION 500,000 surveys annually, it measures the public’s perceptions of them. INTENT

Every day, and for every property on our list, we track 16 separate metrics, SATISFACTION providing a treasure chest of data for sports marketers and administrators. CONSIDERATION (WORTH 16 FOLLOWING) SportsIndex gives our clients the capability to do everything from measuring the effect of yesterday’s news headlines to establishing a METRICS -on-season trend stretching back years. And because it operates WORD OF MOUTH RECOMMEND internationally, users can track and compare properties across the world.

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ATTENTION AWARENESS BUZZ

7 SPORT.YOUGOV.COM 2021 Buzz Report Return to CONTENTS PAGE WHAT’S A BUZZ SCORE? OUR DATA Our Buzz score is the difference between the percentage of respondents The 2021 Buzz Report provides insight about all the sports events we hearing positive news and the percentage hearing negative news about an monitor against just one of the 16 metrics we measure – ‘Buzz’. event in the previous two weeks. So, depending on what is going on, an event’s Buzz score can reveal whether conversations around a property are Every day, we ask people this question... positive or negative at a point in time. “Over the PAST TWO WEEKS, which of the following sporting events Buzz scores can range from +100 (where everyone we asked has heard have you heard something positive/negative about?” something positive) to -100 (where everyone we asked has heard something negative). A completely neutral score, therefore, would be zero. From the answers we collect, we derive a Buzz score for each event. A score of 45 would show positive sentiment towards a property, by a margin of 45 percentage-points. Buzz score Men's Six Nations Rugby Championship during 2020 For our Buzz rankings here, we look at the highest average Buzz score each property has scored each calendar month. Then we take the highest of 30.0 those twelve scores and compare them with highest monthly scores of 25.0 every other property we track in that market. 20.0

We track up to 80 properties in each country but for the sake of this 15.0 report, we display only the top ten in each market overall (domestic and international). In addition, we show a top five or top ten ranking for each 10.0

market for those competitions hosted or held (in part or in their entirety) 5.0 in each market over the year, 0.0 1 Jan 1 Feb 1 Mar 1 Apr 1 May 1 Jun 1 Jul 1 Aug 1 Sep 1 Oct 1 Nov 1 Dec

8 SPORT.YOUGOV.COM 2021 Buzz Report Return to CONTENTS PAGE 1 INTRODUCTION

9 SPORT.YOUGOV.COM 2021 Buzz Report Return to CONTENTS PAGE INTRODUCTION

If there were ever any danger that sport had somehow The COVID-19 pandemic tore through schedules in become devalued by its ubiquity or its polish, then 2020, leaving some of the world’s biggest sporting 2020 was the year that taught every fan to be grateful events in its wake. Fans around the world eagerly for the role it plays in our lives. anticipated the return of live action, and while some competitions have come back, there is no question that sport without fans is not quite the same.

NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE, | 30 DECEMBER 2020: Sadio Mane of Liverpool heads towards goal during the English (EPL) match between Newcastle United and Liverpool at St. James' Park. The match was played without fans, behind closed doors as a COVID-19 precaution.

10 SPORT.YOUGOV.COM 2021 Buzz Report Return to CONTENTS PAGE The year began normally enough, with fixtures and events being fulfilled at a regular rhythm in the first few months of 2020. But come March, and in Leagues began to focus on finding ways to get the space of seven days, the world was rocked by the delay of two of sport’s biggest events – the in and the fixtures fulfilled – even in the absence of spectators. pan-European UEFA Euro 2020 football tournament. Broadcasters dug into their archives and leaned heavily on documentary and conversational The postponements of these quadrennial giants were a wake-up call to those in the sports world not already standing to attention at the spread of content. the coronavirus. They brought with them the realisation that, if events as rich and well-planned as these could do nothing to resist the march of the disease, then many others would go on to suffer the same fate. But even in the midst of a pandemic, sport did eventually return – both at the grassroots and the elite level in many countries. From the Bundesliga to But while spring 2020 was sobering, organisers, broadcasters and fans the IPL, versions of competitions returned to our screens, providing many were quick to focus on finding new ways to keep the home fires burning. fans with a welcome break from the reality of isolation and quarantine. Leagues began to focus on finding ways to get fixtures fulfilled – even in the absence of spectators. Broadcasters dug into their archives and leaned As you might expect, YouGov Sport’s Annual Buzz Report will make heavily on documentary and conversational content. Fans did whatever different reading to previous years. But we have also made changes to the they could to fill the void that live sport left – at a time when many needed scope of the report by including data we now collect on leagues and it the most. events from around the world. So instead of being largely focused on the UK, this year’s global report allows us to truly see what the world’s top- ranked events are across ten markets. All data and rankings refer to the calendar year 2020.

11 SPORT.YOUGOV.COM 2021 Buzz Report Return to CONTENTS PAGE 2 PERFORMANCE BY MARKET

12 SPORT.YOUGOV.COM 2021 Buzz Report Return to CONTENTS PAGE UK

LONDON, ENGLAND | 23 FEBRUARY 2020: Manu Tuilagi of England breaks with the ball during the 2020 Guinness Six Nations match between England and at Stadium.

13 SPORT.YOUGOV.COM 2021 Buzz Report Return to CONTENTS PAGE UK

For the first time since we began our official Buzz UK GLOBAL BUZZ RANKINGS 2021 reports, the Six Nations Rugby Championship tops our MONTH BUZZ RANK PROPERTY UK ranking. And thanks to the disjointed nature of this ACHIEVED SCORE year’s sporting calendar, it scored well enough to make 1 Men's Six Nations Rugby Championship February 24.6 it into our top ten more than once. 2 English Premier League (EPL) June 17.5 The tournament’s resumption in October saw it score highly enough for a second, middle-table appearance, which we do not show. 3 England Team August 15.7

For regular readers, the Six Nation’s triumph will come as no surprise. The 4 Bundesliga May 13.9 property has been a perennial presence in the top five over the years and came close to topping it in 2017 when it was beaten by regular winner, 5 Formula 1 British Grand Prix August 13.8 Wimbledon. 6 Tour de France September 11.9 But the cancellation of the tournament this year left a window of 7 The FA Cup January 10.3 opportunity for the Six Nations and it has comprehensively beaten its rivals, leaving the Premier League in second place by some distance. 8 England T20 Cricket Team September 9.0 But that’s not bad news for the league. Second place represents a high- 9 UEFA Champions League August 8.0 water mark for the competition, which failed to make the top ten in two of the past three rankings. The very fact that it got games on, while other 10 The English Football League (EFL) Championship June 7.5 competitions found it too difficult, has helped the property achieve its best ever ranking.

14 SPORT.YOUGOV.COM 2021 Buzz Report Return to CONTENTS PAGE UK SPORT AND COVID-19

It’s worth remarking, however, that despite their lofty positions neither the An honourable mention must go to one such event here. Despite not even Premier League nor the Six Nations record higher scores than they did in taking place, Wimbledon manages to rank 11th in our rankings this year. In 2019. Overall, peak scores were down, perhaps reflecting the greater noise any other year, this would represent a remarkable fall from grace from this created by events away from the sports field in 2020. In fact, almost every solid-gold property but, in 2020, the fact that it remained part of the property in our top ten fits the mould of scoring less highly over the last conversation at all is a genuine achievement. year. Another notable accomplishment – and one which reflects the importance In a typical year, major annual, biennial and quadrennial of sport to British popular culture – is the appearance of the Bundesliga in would make an appearance in a ranking like this. For example, in 2016, the this year’s ranking. The German football league has never troubled the UK summer Olympic Games in Rio topped our table with a peak score of more top ten before but as the first major European football competition to than 42 points. But the absence of these events has given a boost to the return to regular play, it has charged into fourth place. leagues and contests which have been relatively easier to hold in this pandemic period. The EFL Championship also benefits from the sterling work it has done to get the game back on again.

Meanwhile, the Tour de France continues its persistent argument for Bundesliga has never troubled the UK top ten consideration as a ‘major league’ event in the UK. It features in the top ten before but as the first major European football for the fifth consecutive year, no doubt buoyed by the one of the most competition to return to regular play, it has charged dramatic finishes in Tour history. into fourth place.

15 SPORT.YOUGOV.COM 2021 Buzz Report Return to CONTENTS PAGE UK YEAR-ON-YEAR PERFORMANCE

So how does the performance of our UK top ten in 2020 compare to their U K Y E A R - ON- YEAR PERFORMANCE 2019 scores? 2019 2020 2020 2019 PROPERTY BUZZ BUZZ RANK RANK Well, most scores are down overall – and that’s what we’d expect given the SCORE SCORE fact that so much else has been in the news in 2020, and that it’s possible 1 5 Men's Six Nations Rugby Championship 28.6 24.6 that people had less appetite for sports news overall. When you take into

account the fact that much of the sporting calendar was also – to one 2 8 English Premier League 17.6 17.5 extent or another – disrupted, it’s really no surprise to see many sports

events struggling to build on 2019 scores. 3 7 England Test Cricket 19.2 15.7

But in actual fact, three of our properties managed to do just that in 2020. 4 N/A Bundesliga N/A 13.9 The British Grand Prix, the Tour de France and England’s T20 cricket side all managed to generate more positive chatter than they did in 2019. It’s 5 11 Formula 1 British Grand Prix 11.9 13.8 also likely that the Bundesliga would have seen gains had we been tracking the property in the UK in 2019. 6 12 Tour de France, Cycling 11.6 11.9

But no property in our top ten suffered catastrophic loss over the year – in 7 10 The FA Cup 13.1 10.3 fact far from it. That’s a testament to the enduring interest of fans but also to skillful marketers and broadcasters – not to mention the playing and 8 18 England T20 Cricket 8.7 9.0 coaching staff who made the events happen in the first place. 9 9 UEFA Champions League 14.0 8.0

10 14 The English Football League (EFL) Championship 10.6 7.5

16 SPORT.YOUGOV.COM 2021 Buzz Report Return to CONTENTS PAGE UK DOMESTIC RANKING

Our ranking of only properties which have taken place domestically in the UK DOMESTIC BUZZ RANKINGS 2021 UK doesn’t look too different to our overall version. But climbing into the MONTH BUZZ top ten comes Wimbledon and the England men’s national rugby team. RANK PROPERTY ACHIEVED SCORE Wimbledon was cancelled for the first time since World War II last year. 1 Men's Six Nations Rugby Championship February 24.6 And if you assumed that it was the announcement of this news in April that

created the most Buzz, you’d be wrong. Instead, it appears that it was in 2 English Premier League (EPL) June 17.5 fact the sporting muscle memory of British fans that created the property’s

peak score, when the tournament should have been taking place in July. 3 England Test Cricket August 15.7 Credit is due to the Wimbledon marketing team for bringing the property to life through Wimbledon Recreated, even when it wasn’t actually 4 Formula 1 British Grand Prix August 13.8 happening. 5 The FA Cup January 10.3

6 England T20 Cricket September 9.0

7 UEFA Champions League August 8.0

8 The English Football League (EFL) Championship June 7.5

9 Wimbledon Championships July 7.3

10 England Men’s National Team November 6.2

17 SPORT.YOUGOV.COM 2021 Buzz Report Return to CONTENTS PAGE US

KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI, US | 2 FEBRUARY 2020: Chiefs fans celebrate as the Kansas City Chiefs defeat the San Francisco 49ers in the Super Bowl LIV.

18 SPORT.YOUGOV.COM 2021 Buzz Report Return to CONTENTS PAGE US

While it’s never necessarily a surprise to see the US GLOBAL BUZZ RANKINGS 2021 NFL come out on top of a ranking of US sports, when MONTH BUZZ RANK PROPERTY it comes to Buzz, it is unusual to see every top-ten peak ACHIEVED SCORE

score laid down by the fifth month of the US sports 1 National Football League (NFL) January 15.7 calendar. 2 NASCAR May 14.3

By the time Super Bowl LIV had been won by Kansas City Chiefs on 2nd 3 National Association (NBA) February 12.6 February, health officials in China had already confirmed that a novel coronavirus emerging in Wuhan could be transmitted between humans. 4 Major League Baseball (MLB) May 12.3 The rest of the year was history – in more ways than one. 5 NCAA Division 1 College Football January 9.7 Nevertheless, the peak Buzz score that the NFL recorded in January was, with the help of Kansas City Chiefs’ quarterback Patrick Mahomes, 6 NCAA Division 1 College Basketball January 8.9 significantly higher than it managed in the previous year. 7 National Hockey League (NHL) February 8.6

8 Summer Olympic Games January 7.9

9 XFL February 7.6

10 Special Olympics July 7.5

19 SPORT.YOUGOV.COM 2021 Buzz Report Return to CONTENTS PAGE NASCAR’s peak score, which propels it to second in the US rankings, was The NBA also recorded its peak score early in the year. That’s pretty usual amongst the latest to be recorded – well into pandemic chaos. Its score of for the league, which tends to record a high in February, but we’d also 14.3, just 1.4 points below the NFL, was achieved in May – as the Cup Series expect to see another peak some time during or after the play-offs in returned after a two-month hiatus. May/June. In the absence of anything resembling a regular season, then, third place is still a good performance for the league. And amid strong political and cultural undercurrents, NASCAR made significant policy changes to its events that may have factored into the Hot on its heels, just 0.3 points below, is Major League Baseball. Its season positive conversations occurring around the sport. In response to protests was also heavily impacted by the pandemic, shrinking from 162 to just 60 erupting across the nation to the killing of George Floyd, a black man who games, played between July and September. And while its peak 2020 died at the hands of police, NASCAR relaxed its rules barring kneeling Buzz score is significantly lower than its 2019 marker, its ranking is still during the national anthem and banned Confederate flags from its events. respectably high.

College sport performs pretty well in 2020, despite it being a highly challenging 12 months for the NCAA and its schedulers. Even though Amid strong political and cultural undercurrents, basketball’s season was completely wiped out, it still manages to generate NASCAR made significant policy changes to its enough Buzz to make it into sixth place – but that’s a legacy of early-year events that may have factored into the positive optimism more than excitement about anything that took place on the court. Any madness around March had much more to do with coronavirus- conversations occurring around the sport. related cancellations than it did with basketball in 2020.

The same early-year optimism may account for the Summer Olympics’ presence in the US top ten. Its peak score was recorded in January, well before any serious commentary around its postponement.

20 SPORT.YOUGOV.COM 2021 Buzz Report Return to CONTENTS PAGE US DOMESTIC RANKING

Just like in the UK, domestic sport is what dominates Buzz in the US. But US DOMESTIC BUZZ RANKINGS 2021 removing international or overseas properties does leave room for a couple MONTH BUZZ of other sports properties to climb into the top ten. In this case, it’s the RANK PROPERTY Harlem Globetrotters and the PGA Men’s Golf Tour who see ACHIEVED SCORE the benefits. 1 National Football League (NFL) January 15.7

The Globetrotters lost legend Curly Neal in 2020 but that was after the 2 NASCAR May 14.3 team’s peak score was recorded in February. It was June before the PGA

Tour recorded its peak score – as the property returned from a 3 National Basketball Association (NBA) February 12.6 coronavirus-enforced hiatus. The Charles Schwab Challenge was the tournament which got the ball rolling again and it’s likely to be no 4 Major League Baseball (MLB) May 12.3 coincidence that the eagerly-awaited event coincides with the Tour’s high- water mark for the year. 5 NCAA Division 1 College Football January 9.7

6 NCAA Division 1 College Basketball January 8.9

7 National Hockey League (NHL) February 8.6

8 XFL February 7.6

9 Harlem Globetrotters February 7.5

10 PGA Men's Golf Tour June 7.4

21 SPORT.YOUGOV.COM 2021 Buzz Report Return to CONTENTS PAGE AUSTRALIA

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA | 1 FEBRUARY 2020: of the celebrates winning championship point during her Women's Singles Final match on day thirteen of the 2020 Australian Open at Park.

22 SPORT.YOUGOV.COM 2021 Buzz Report Return to CONTENTS PAGE AUSTRALIA

By the end of 2020, Australia looked to have the AUSTRALIA GLOBAL BUZZ RANKINGS 2021 pandemic under control, having enjoyed long periods MONTH BUZZ RANK PROPERTY with no new cases from November onwards. But for the ACHIEVED SCORE

rest of the year, the pandemic wreaked havoc on the 1 Australian Open (Tennis) January 35.4 country’s sporting calendar, just as it had around the rest of the world. 2 Big Bash League January 22.2

3 Cricket Australia January 21.8 Just sneaking under the wire, however, were three of Australia’s sporting highlights – the Australian Open (tennis), the Big Bash (domestic cricket) 4 Australian Football League (AFL) October 21.4 and some of the international summer cricket season. 5 State of Origin Series (Rugby League) November 21.0 It’s no coincidence that these major events/sports, untarnished by any virus fears, make up the top three for Buzz in the country for 2020. What’s 6 AFL Women's March 19.8 notable, however, is just how much noise the Australian Open creates among Australians. It scores more than 13 points higher than its nearest 7 Women's Big Bash League (WBBL) November 12.5 rival, the Big Bash League, which is then closely tied with third, fourth and fifth positions. Truly, the Open wins this one in straight sets. 8 ATP Men’s Tennis January 12.2

Australia’s ranking is also notable for the inclusion of two women’s leagues 9 English Premier League (EPL) February 12.0 in the top ten. AFL Women’s comes in 6th, in only its fourth season, and that’s despite the season being abandoned in March. 10 Formula 1 (F1) September 11.6

Meanwhile, the Women’s Big Bash League, played entirely in in October/November, moves into seventh position for 2020.

23 SPORT.YOUGOV.COM 2021 Buzz Report Return to CONTENTS PAGE AUSTRALIA DOMESTIC RANKING

Because Australia’s sporting focus is so local, the domestic table for the AUSTRALIA DOMESTIC BUZZ RANKINGS 2021 country shows only one new entrant – the Brisbane International. MONTH BUZZ RANK PROPERTY The tennis tournament, part of the WTA Tour, takes place in January as a ACHIEVED SCORE prelude to the Australian Open and attracted a strong field in 2020, with 1 Australian Open (Tennis) January 35.4 Karolína Plíšková defeating in a tight final. That was enough

to see it just nudge out other candidates including Supercars, Netball 2 Big Bash League January 22.2 Australia and NRL Premiership from the top ten. They all came within

0.3 points of the Brisbane International. 3 Cricket Australia January 21.8

4 Australian Football League (AFL) October 21.4

5 State of Origin Series (Rugby League) November 21.0

6 AFL Women's March 19.8

7 Women's Big Bash League (WBBL) November 12.5

8 ATP Men’s Tennis January 12.2

9 (F1) September 11.6

10 Brisbane International January 10.9

24 SPORT.YOUGOV.COM 2021 Buzz Report Return to CONTENTS PAGE BRAZIL

SAO PAULO, BRAZIL | 15 JANUARY 2020: Rony of Palmeiras and Kannemann of Gremio fight for the ball during the match as part of Brasileirao Series A 2020 at Allianz Parque.

25 SPORT.YOUGOV.COM 2021 Buzz Report Return to CONTENTS PAGE BRAZIL

Brazil’s top domestic football league, Série A, BRAZIL GLOBAL BUZZ RANKINGS 2021 comfortably beats off all opposition to come top of the MONTH BUZZ RANK PROPERTY country’s Buzz rankings for 2020. ACHIEVED SCORE

1 Brazilian Championship Série A November 44.7 Formula 1 makes its highest appearance across all our rankings, as well as recording its highest score. Although Brazil supplies no current Formula 1 2 Formula 1 (F1) October 38.4 drivers, it has long been a source of some of the very best, including Nelson Piquet and Ayrton Senna, and the sport enjoys a dedicated fanbase. 3 UEFA Champions League January 24.4

Brazil is also the country with the most football properties in its top ten – 4 Brazilian Championship Série B November 24.0 seven in all. Noise is generated from its three biggest domestic leagues, as well as the Champions League, the World Cup, England’s Premier League 5 FIFA World Cup January 22.5 and Spain’s . 6 English Premier League (EPL) January 17.0 Notably, Brazil is the only one of our selected markets where makes an appearance in the top ten. Its Superliga comes seventh in our 7 Brazilian Volleyball Super League March 14.5 ranking – that’s despite the 2019/20 season being cancelled in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. 8 National Basketball Association (NBA-American) January 14.4

9 Brazilian Championship Série C October 13.8

10 La Liga (Football) January 13.1

26 SPORT.YOUGOV.COM 2021 Buzz Report Return to CONTENTS PAGE BRAZIL DOMESTIC RANKING

Five new properties make our domestic-only ranking in Brazil. BRAZIL DOMESTIC BUZZ RANKINGS 2021

MONTH BUZZ The first of them is the , which recorded its peak Buzz RANK PROPERTY score in January, before the global pandemic had been declared. That was ACHIEVED SCORE just before the league reached Pernambuco for its February leg of the 1 Brazilian Championship A Series November 44.7 competition.

2 Formula One (F1) October 38.4 Other multi-competition events that regularly visit Brazil also made it into

the top ten. The men’s and women’s professional tennis tours both hold 3 Brazilian Championship B Series November 24.0 events in Brazil under normal circumstances and both recorded peak Buzz scores in October. That’s not when we’d normally expect to see these 4 Brazilian Volleyball Super League March 14.5 peaks – for example, the Rio Open takes place in February. 5 Brazilian Championship C Series October 13.8 The Brazilian Basketball Championship also makes it into the top ten – in seventh place, beating out . 6 World Surf League January 11.7

7 Brazilian Basketball Championship March 9.1

8 Esports October 6.9

9 ATP Men’s Tennis October 6.7

10 WTA Women’s Tennis October 4.1

27 SPORT.YOUGOV.COM 2021 Buzz Report Return to CONTENTS PAGE FRANCE

MERIBEL, FRANCE | 16 SEPTEMBER 2020: Supporters of the Tour de France cycling event cheering Sepp Kuss and Primos Roglic in the Col de la Loze.

28 SPORT.YOUGOV.COM 2021 Buzz Report Return to CONTENTS PAGE FRANCE

The Tour de France makes three appearances in our FRANCE GLOBAL BUZZ RANKINGS 2021 multi-market top tens but the property ranks highest in MONTH BUZZ RANK PROPERTY its home country. In a year relatively starved of stand- ACHIEVED SCORE

alone events, Le Tour racks up a Buzz score of 40, 1 Tour de France September 40.0 almost three points more than its closest rival, the French Open (tennis). 2 French Open / Roland-Garros (Tennis) October 37.1

3 UEFA Champions League August 26.2 2020’s Tour was a genuine classic, with the winner being decided on the last day of general classification racing and the lead changing hands 4 Six Nations Rugby Championship February 20.3 between two countrymen. That all this should happen in a sporting year beset by the coronavirus no doubt made Le Boucle even more appealing 5 Coupe de France (Football) January 16.9 to the French public. 6 Formula 1 (F1) December 16.3 In 2020, the UEFA Champions League also created plenty of Buzz, as French champions Saint-Germain made it all the way to the final in 7 Ligue 1 (Football) January 13.2 Lisbon, only to be defeated by Bayern Munich. Their , and the noise created by it, shows that little beats having a domestic interest in a 8 Winter Olympic Games January 13.0 competition. 9 Summer Olympic Games March 13.0

10 (Rugby) December 11.1

29 SPORT.YOUGOV.COM 2021 Buzz Report Return to CONTENTS PAGE The Six Nations Rugby Championship makes its second appearance of this FRANCE DOMESTIC BUZZ RANKINGS 2021 review – and demonstrates to those unaware just how much cut-through MONTH BUZZ the sport can earn among Gallic audiences. It helped that France were RANK PROPERTY runners-up in the tournament with the highest try scorer in the shape of ACHIEVED SCORE Charles Ollivon and the most tries overall. The country’s domestic league 1 Tour de France (Cycling) September 40.0 – Top 14 – also makes it into the top ten.

2 French Open / Roland-Garros (Tennis) October 37.1

FRANCE DOMESTIC RANKING 3 UEFA Champions League August 26.2

4 Six Nations Rugby Championship February 20.3 When we filter only for competitions held or hosted domestically in France, the ranking looks only a little different. 5 Coupe de France January 16.9

In slides the Coupe de la Ligue, a football cup competition which played 6 Formula One (F1) December 16.3 out its last final in 2020 – the tournament has now been suspended to

address fixture congestion. In tenth, we see UEFA’s Europa League, despite 7 Ligue 1 January 13.2 the fact that there was no French club participation in its latter stages. 8 Top 14 (Rugby) December 11.1

9 Coupe de la Ligue January 10.2

10 UEFA Europa League December 9.6

30 SPORT.YOUGOV.COM 2021 Buzz Report Return to CONTENTS PAGE GERMANY

ARMISCH-PARTENKIRCHEN, GERMANY | 1 JANUARY 2021: of Germany competes during the competition at the Four Hills Tournament 2020 in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany.

31 SPORT.YOUGOV.COM 2021 Buzz Report Return to CONTENTS PAGE GERMANY

Once again, in Germany it’s an event which escaped the GERMANY GLOBAL BUZZ RANKINGS 2021 start of the pandemic which records the highest score for MONTH BUZZ RANK PROPERTY the year. In this case, it’s Vierschanzentournee (the Four ACHIEVED SCORE Hills Tournament, a German/Austrian ski jumping event) 1 Vierschanzentournee January 19.1 which tops the ranking. The event narrowly beats perennial favourite, the Bundesliga, into second place – there’s only 2 Bundesliga (Football) February 18.9 0.2 points between them. 3 UEFA Champions League August 12.2

As we note earlier, the Bundesliga got its show back on the road sooner 4 Formula 1 (F1) December 12.0 than most other football leagues but that won’t have made much difference to German football fans, who tend anyway to be devoted to 5 DFB-Pokal (Football) February 11.2 their domestic league rather than any of its competitors. 6 Tour de France September 11.1 It’s another football property, the UEFA Champions League, which comes third. Buzz around the event would have been boosted by Bayern Munich 7 German Women’s Football Team October 9.2 storming to victory in the final. 8 -Bundesliga January 9.1 In fact, football provides six of the top ten properties for Buzz in Germany in 2020, with two of those being women’s properties – the women’s national 9 Frauen-Bundesliga (Football) September 7.4 team in seventh and the women’s Bundesliga in ninth. 10 UEFA Europa League August 6.8 Formula 1 and the Tour de France also provide strong performances in a difficult year.

32 SPORT.YOUGOV.COM 2021 Buzz Report Return to CONTENTS PAGE GERMANY DOMESTIC RANKING

Only the Tour de France drops out of Germany’s top ten to make way for a GERMANY DOMESTIC BUZZ RANKINGS 2021 domestic-only ranking. MONTH BUZZ RANK PROPERTY The property that replaces the Tour is the IBU Biathlon Weltcup (or World ACHIEVED SCORE Cup). The season takes place between November and March and was 1 Vierschanzentournee January 19.1 concluded a little over a week early in 2020, thanks to the pandemic.

2 Bundesliga February 18.9 Two of the host locations were in Germany in early January and that helps

the property break into our top ten here ahead of other events like the FIS 3 UEFA Champions League August 12.2 Ski Jumping World Cup. 4 Formel 1 (F1) December 12.0

5 DFB-Pokal February 11.2

6 Deutsche Frauen Fußball-Nationalmannschaft October 9.2

7 Handball-Bundesliga January 9.1

8 Frauen-Fußball-Bundesliga September 7.4

9 UEFA Europa League August 6.8

10 IBU Biathlon Weltcup January 6.5

33 SPORT.YOUGOV.COM 2021 Buzz Report Return to CONTENTS PAGE INDIA

DUBAI, | 10 NOVEMBER 2020: of Indians celebrates the of Ajinkya Rahane of Capitals during the final of season 13 of the Dream 11 (IPL) between the Mumbai Indians and the Delhi Capitals held at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.

34 SPORT.YOUGOV.COM 2021 Buzz Report Return to CONTENTS PAGE INDIA

Nothing was ever likely to shift the IPL from its perch at INDIA GLOBAL BUZZ RANKINGS 2021 the top of the Buzz rankings in its home country in this MONTH BUZZ RANK PROPERTY urban representative sample – not changing to a new ACHIEVED SCORE

title sponsor, not switching the date, not even moving 1 Indian Premier League (IPL) October 54.4 it out of India. 2 ICC Cricket World Cup January 46.3 Its Buzz score is the highest for any property in any of the markets in this report – and by some distance. Brazil’s Série A is the only one to 3 FIFA World Cup February 27.0 come close (in Brazil), with a score almost ten points less than the IPL’s (54.4 vs. 44.7). 4 Pro League February 23.1

Only the ICC Cricket World Cup came close to the IPL in India and it is a 5 January 20.1 measure of the esteem in which the tournament is held that Indians were Asian Games March 16.0 still hearing positive conversations from it several months after it had 6 ended. India, by the way, made the semi-final of the event. Had they 7 Wimbledon Championships (Tennis) March 14.1 made the final, who knows how highly it would have scored?

8 World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) January 13.8 Two other home-grown properties appear in the top five for India. PKL (or ) comes in fourth, while the India Super League 9 Commonwealth Games March 13.8 (football) is in fifth. The ISL concluded just before the pandemic struck, while the PKL was cancelled altogether. 10 Australian Open (Tennis) January 12.6

35 SPORT.YOUGOV.COM 2021 Buzz Report Return to CONTENTS PAGE INDIA DOMESTIC RANKING

India’s domestic ranking sees two additional properties make it onto the INDIA DOMESTIC BUZZ RANKINGS 2021 domestic version of the ranking. MONTH BUZZ RANK PROPERTY Although by our rules the IPL was, strictly speaking, a UAE-domestic ACHIEVED SCORE property in 2020 (see the UAE section), we also count it here as an Indian 1 Indian Premier League (IPL) October 54.4 property – first of all to give some context to other events but also because

it is, in spirit, very much an Indian event. 2 Pro Kabaddi League February 23.1

3 Indian Super League January 20.1

4 I-League January 4.4

5 Premier League March 3.8

Note: Editorial changes applied to this section from the first release. Please contact us is you would like to discuss.

36 SPORT.YOUGOV.COM 2021 Buzz Report Return to CONTENTS PAGE JAPAN

TOKYO, JAPAN | 25 MARCH 2020: Women walk past adverts for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics following the announcement that the games will be postponed to 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

37 SPORT.YOUGOV.COM 2021 Buzz Report Return to CONTENTS PAGE JAPAN

It is little wonder that there has been plenty of noise JAPAN GLOBAL BUZZ RANKINGS 2021 about the Olympic Games in Japan over 2020 – the MONTH BUZZ RANK PROPERTY year the event was due to have taken place in Tokyo. ACHIEVED SCORE

What is more notable is that so much of the noise was 1 Summer Olympic Games January 24.3 positive that the summer Games tops Japan’s Buzz rankings for the year. 2 US Open (Tennis) September 21.4

3 Nippon Professional Baseball July 19.4 Assuming the event goes ahead as planned in 2021, we would expect this to be the first of two years where the Games top our ranking. 4 January 17.8

The US Open makes it into second place, easily beating the tournament’s 5 Japan Professional Football League July 12.2 performance at home in the US, where it scored 5.1 and came 15th. And that’s likely because, while the deepest an American player went was the 6 Winter Olympic Games January 11.0 semi-finals, Japanese number one, , won the tournament, picking up the third win of her career. 7 Major League Baseball (MLB) August 9.5

8 National Basketball Association (NBA) February 9.0

9 Australian Open (Tennis) January 8.8

10 FIFA World Cup May 8.6

38 SPORT.YOUGOV.COM 2021 Buzz Report Return to CONTENTS PAGE The Rugby World Cup, hosted by Japan at the end of 2019, left enough JAPAN DOMESTIC BUZZ RANKINGS 2021 lingering Buzz in the country for the tournament to make fourth place in MONTH BUZZ our 2020 rankings. Although the hosts were knocked out in the quarter- RANK PROPERTY finals, they gave a good enough account of themselves to make a ACHIEVED SCORE significant success of the event. 1 Summer Olympic Games January 24.3

Two domestic leagues (the J-League in football and Nippon Professional 2 Nippon Professional Baseball July 19.4 Baseball) make the top ten but US exports like the NBA and MLB are also

popular. They come in seventh and eighth despite their changed 3 Rugby World Cup (Rugby Union) January 17.8 schedules. 4 Japan Professional Football League July 12.2

JAPAN DOMESTIC RANKING 5 LPGA Women’s Golf Tour October 4.4

Only one additional property makes it onto the domestic version of the ranking – and that’s the LPGA Women’s Tour.

That’s despite the Japanese leg of the Tour – the Toto Japan Classic – being cancelled in 2020 due to the pandemic. Nevertheless, it made sufficient positive noise to appear in our top-five ranking.

39 SPORT.YOUGOV.COM 2021 Buzz Report Return to CONTENTS PAGE MEXICO

LEON, MEXICO | 13 DECEMBER 2020: Players of Leon celebrate their championship after defeating Pumas UNAM in the final second leg match between Leon and Pumas UNAM as part of the Torneo Guard1anes 2020.

40 SPORT.YOUGOV.COM 2021 Buzz Report Return to CONTENTS PAGE MEXICO

Liga MX, the country’s premier football league, MEXICO GLOBAL BUZZ RANKINGS 2021 comfortably ranks first in our Buzz ranking for Mexico. It MONTH BUZZ RANK PROPERTY outscores its nearest rival, the NFL, by almost eight ACHIEVED SCORE

points. 1 Liga MX (Football) January 39.5

Like many other countries, top scores for properties in Mexico were 2 National Football League (NFL) February 31.8 recorded disproportionately in pre-pandemic months. Only one property (Formula 1) laid down its highest score after March – its score has probably 3 UEFA Champions League February 28.6 been boosted by the performances of Racing Point driver and Guadalajara native, Sergio Pérez, who won his first F1 race in 2020. 4 FIFA World Cup January 28.0

Six of Mexico’s top ten are football properties, with La Liga and the 5 National Basketball Association (NBA) February 26.9 UEFA Champions League creating plenty of noise among the locals. But 26.9 American sports are also well represented with NFL, NBA and NASCAR in 6 La Liga (Football) February the top ten and MLB finishing 11th position. 7 Formula 1 (F1) December 26.7

8 Mexican National Team (Football) January 14.8

9 Summer Olympic Games February 14.4

10 NASCAR March 14.1

41 SPORT.YOUGOV.COM 2021 Buzz Report Return to CONTENTS PAGE MEXICO DOMESTIC RANKING

Because so few Mexican properties feature in the top ten, our domestic MEXICO DOMESTIC BUZZ RANKINGS 2021 top five features a couple of new entries. MONTH BUZZ RANK PROPERTY Most notable among them is the Mexican Baseball League. The League ACHIEVED SCORE suffered its first cancellation in 95 years in 2020 – needless to say thanks 1 Liga MX January 39.5 to the effects of the pandemic. Yet it still mustered enough positive chatter

to make it into our top five ranking. 2 Formula One (F1) December 26.7

We’ve included esports here because they’ve scored highly in Mexico and 3 Mexico National Team January 14.8 it’s useful to see this generic category of competitive gaming in the context of other properties. Interestingly their peak score was in January, before 4 Mexican Baseball League July 13.4 the pandemic took hold. As we’ve written before, interest in esports has climbed significantly in Mexico in recent times. 5 Esports January 11.7

42 SPORT.YOUGOV.COM 2021 Buzz Report Return to CONTENTS PAGE UAE

ABU DHABI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES | 13 DECEMBER 2020: Max Verstappen of Red Bull Racing and The during the F1 Grand Prix of Abu Dhabi at Yas Marina Circuit.

43 SPORT.YOUGOV.COM 2021 Buzz Report Return to CONTENTS PAGE UAE

While diplomatic relations between the two countries UAE GLOBAL BUZZ RANKINGS 2021 have been better in the past, that’s not enough to MONTH BUZZ RANK PROPERTY distract UAE residents from the positive Buzz created ACHIEVED SCORE

by ’s FIFA World Cup, which will take place in 1 FIFA World Cup February 32.2 2022. 2 FIFA Club World Cup January 27.7

The tournament comfortably beats out FIFA’s Club World Cup, which was 3 Indian Premier League (IPL) October 22.0 also due to be hosted in Qatar in 2020 but has now been delayed until February 2021. 4 Formula 1 (F1) January 21.9

The UAE itself hosted the country’s third buzziest property – the Indian 5 English Premier League (EPL) June 21.7 Premier League. The League was moved to the UAE to avoid lockdown restrictions in India. 6 UEFA Champions League September 19.8

While the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix took place in December, it was Buzz left 7 La Liga October 19.5 over from the 2019 edition of the event which puts Formula 1 into fourth place. Formula 1 is in a tightly-ranked group which also include the English 8 Dubai Marathon January 18.1 Premier League, the UEFA Champions League and La Liga. 9 ICC World July 17.4 They are followed by the only home-grown event in the top ten - the Dubai Marathon. Having said that a number of others, including the Dubai World 10 ICC Cricket World Cup February 17.4 Cup, the Dubai Tennis Championships, the Arabian Gulf League and the UAE Tour all fall just outside the top ten.

44 SPORT.YOUGOV.COM 2021 Buzz Report Return to CONTENTS PAGE UAE DOMESTIC RANKING

Of those properties which were held in the UAE, it’s the Indian Premier UAE DOMESTIC BUZZ RANKINGS 2021 League which comes out on top with a score of 22.0 points. As we mention MONTH BUZZ earlier, the event moved temporarily to the UAE in 2020 to avoid COVID RANK PROPERTY restrictions and it looks like even if the move disappointed many Indians, ACHIEVED SCORE it created plenty of noise in the UAE. 1 Indian Premier League (IPL) October 22.0

Dubai-based events then make up the next three highest properties. The 2 Dubai Marathon January 18.1 Dubai Marathon, Dubai World Cup (equestrianism) and the Dubai Tennis

Championships all make a splash with their annual events. 3 Dubai World Cup (Equestrian) January 14.0

There is little to separate them from the Arabian Gulf League, the UAE’s 4 Dubai Tennis Championships February 12.6 premier domestic football competition. The League, which along with the Arabian Gulf Cup, represents the highlight of the country’s soccer scene 5 UAE Arabian Gulf League December 12.3 sees off competition from the highly-regarded AFC Champions League. 6 Arabian Gulf Cup (Football) January 12.2

7 UAE Tour (Cycling) May 11.9

8 AFC Champions League February 11.9

9 Abu Dhabi Marathon January 11.2

10 Abu Dhabi T10 Cricket August 8.1

45 SPORT.YOUGOV.COM 2021 Buzz Report Return to CONTENTS PAGE 3 CONCLUSION

46 SPORT.YOUGOV.COM 2021 Buzz Report Return to CONTENTS PAGE CONCLUSION

Buzz scores can vary significantly from country to A number of factors may contribute to these disparities country. The average top ten score in Mexico, for – and the picture is particularly complex during this example, is 24.5. Yet in the US that average drops to pandemic – but there are also lots of interesting just 10.5. The highest score for an overall winner is in parallels to be drawn across these diverse markets. India (the IPL with 54.4), while the lowest is in the US (NFL with 15.7).

DARMSTADT. GERMANY | 23 MAY 2020: A general view of the empty stands, with photos of fans on seats during the second Bundesliga match between SV Darmstadt 98 and FC St. Pauli at Merck-Stadion am Boellenfalltor.

47 SPORT.YOUGOV.COM 2021 Buzz Report Return to CONTENTS PAGE Formula 1 features in seven of our market rankings

38.4 One of the most striking commonalities is the performance of football. Only 26.7 the US doesn’t feature a soccer property in its top ten. Across the rest of 21.9 16.3 the markets, football properties fill 35 of the 90 slots available. 13.8 11.6 12.0

And yet it is not a football property which crops up most often in our top 5 10 4 6 4 7 4 tens – that honour falls to Formula 1. The motor sport features in seven of our market rankings, making it the most consistently buzzy property among UK US Australia Brazil France Germany India Japan Mexico UAE them. But football competitions are close on its heels. The UEFA Formula 1 did not feature in the top 10 rankings of the US, India, Japan. Rank shown in white circles Champions League makes six appearances while the FIFA World Cup makes five.

Behind them come the English Premier League and the NBA, both with Every market has its own favourite homegrown properties yet in each, the four appearances. The Summer Olympic Games, which organisers might noise of an overseas or international property also breaks through. But at have expected to see at or close to the top of every ranking this year, the same time, there are poles at either end. Americans are most likely to features in just three top tens. But that’s not bad for an event which didn’t notice Buzz about domestic competitions and UAE residents are most take place and just shows that even when an event is postponed or likely to hear noise about sports events from outside their borders. cancelled, it can make a lot of noise. Finally, it is worth making an observation or two about the effects of the Another commonality is the split between domestic and international coronavirus pandemic on these figures. sports in each of our rankings. It is unlikely to be a coincidence that across our ten market rankings, seven of our first-place scores were recorded before the pandemic took hold in Americans are most likely to notice Buzz about March. Similarly, 57 of our 100 ranking slots were taken by scores recorded domestic competitions and UAE residents are most in the first three months of the year. In short, there was less Buzz around in the rest of the year. likely to hear noise about sports events from outside their borders. Again, that’s likely to be due to a mix of factors.

48 SPORT.YOUGOV.COM 2021 Buzz Report Return to CONTENTS PAGE First of all, the sporting calendar was dismantled by the pandemic – there was simply less sport taking place after March. Secondly, there was a lot of other noise for sports events to cut through following the declaration of the pandemic, not least the fact that the virus was beginning to claim lives around the world. Thirdly, people may simply have been less receptive to sports news – it may have mattered to them less than usual, given everything that has gone on in 2020.

The big question for sport going into 2021 is whether it can prove resilient enough to reclaim its place in the lives of the global population. The data we collect from around the world provides a pretty clear answer – that the sector is tightly woven into the fabric of popular culture.

Yet as leagues and institutions get back to business, it’s critical to identify and evaluate their positioning among fans and in places around the world. Many things will likely change in the sporting industry but tracking the effects of these transformations can help brands and fans stay connected to one another.

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA | 1 MAY 2020: Five-time world champion rower, Australian Paralympic Erik Horrie, trains in his backyard gym in isolation at his home.

49 SPORT.YOUGOV.COM 2021 Buzz Report Return to CONTENTS PAGE ABOUT YOUGOV

YouGov is an international research data and analytics group headquartered in . Our data-led offering supports and improves a wide spectrum of marketing activities of a customer-base including media owners, brands and media agencies. We work with some of the world’s most recognised brands. Our line of products and services includes YouGov SportsIndex, YouGov BrandIndex, YouGov Destination Index, YouGov Global Fan Profiles, YouGov Profiles, YouGov RealTime, YouGov Custom Research, YouGov Crunch and YouGov Direct. With over 11 million registered panellists in more than 55 countries, YouGov’s market research covers the UK, the Americas, Mainland Europe, the Middle East, and Asia-Pacific. Our panellists come from all ages, socio-economic groups, and other demographic types – allowing us to create nationally and internationally representative online samples of consumers. For more information, visit yougov.com/business

Scores show average data from January 1, 2020 to December 31, 2020.

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