Johannesburg, South Africa – The rise in popularity of EFC in South Africa continues unabated.
A recent SponsorLink study amongst South Africans in the LSM 6-10 online bracket, by Repucom Africa, has shown that interest in EFC and the sport of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) has increased by twenty percent (20%) amongst South Africans over the last 12 months. In the period under review interest in the sport grew from 30% in June of 2014 to 36% in May of 2015, surpassing golf and mountain biking in this important market segment.
Repucom Africa broadcast audience analysis highlights that EFC attracts a younger audience to SuperSport, as well as more diverse, with more isiZulu and English viewers (typically sports like cricket and rugby have older, predominantly Afrikaans speaking viewers on SuperSport in SA).
Kelvin Watt, Executive Chairman of Repucom Africa confirms “In South Africa alone in 2014, there were 1,720,016 unique viewers of EFC broadcast content on the SuperSport and DSTV channels. This was during the 1,161 hours of Live and Secondary broadcast of EFC content on SuperSport in 2014.”
EFC is the dominant MMA organisation on the African continent broadcasting across the SuperSport network and in total to over 120 countries worldwide, and earlier this year was named as the South African ‘Sports Brand of the Year’ at the Discovery Sports Industry Awards. This is the second year in a row that EFC has won this prestigious award, and is the only brand to have ever won it more than once.
Kelvin Watt further commented: “The continued growth of EFC, and MMA, does not surprise me. It is a slick and innovative product that attracts a young and diverse fan-base, by focusing on a world class live event and television experience. Many sports in Africa could learn valuable lessons from how EFC creates, packages, markets and delivers its product to its fans.”
Watt continued, “Live stadium and event experience is the biggest crisis facing the sport industry in South Africa today, our SponsorLink tracker study highlights a number of factors that make fans decide to consume their favourite sports from the comfort of their own homes. EFC have continued to show that the live stadium event experience is critical to continued success in the sports business.”
Cairo Howarth, President of EFC added: “We are delighted by the latest research results from Repucom. It confirms our view that we are the fastest growing sport on the African continent, and we look forward to another great year ahead.”