UEFA EURO, Tour de France, and not least the upcoming Olympic Games in Paris. So much is reported about global sports events and their international reach. This is certainly true, as we at OLOQIQI have often pointed out.
And yet, in our latest OLOQIQI analysis, just before the start of the Summer Olympics, we focused on national sports media consumption in June 2024 in two of the top sports markets worldwide: China and Japan.
Despite the global nature of sports events and their extensive broadcasting hours, markets like China and Japan are dominated by events with strong national ties, alongside a few global blue-chip events. In June, the highest viewership in China was recorded for the U19 Football match between China and Uzbekistan, followed by the China Women's Basketball match against Japan and various matches of the Table Tennis WTT Championships in Chongqing.
In Japan, two Badminton broadcasts (the Australia Open and the Singapore Open) achieved very high viewership, despite their less global focus. However, the highest individual viewership in June was for the Tennis broadcasts of the French Open at the beginning of the month.
When we look at the general reach and impressions (viewership relative to broadcast length) of sports, we find that Volleyball and Baseball lead the rankings in both China and Japan, rather than Basketball and Football. Even with the global prominence of major sports events, examining national preferences reveals valuable insights, which is relevant beyond just China and Japan.