Find Millennial Fans in Nigeria Playing Football More on the Social Media – Report Here

For decades, football have been played via TV broadcast in family living rooms, then in viewing centers which serves as stadium next door, in school fields scattered across the country, youths gather to watch and play…

But now, the game have transcended the traditional ball and pitch system, and fans are consuming football more in a different way.

It’s not just about going to the stadium and the screens are no longer just TV sets, but have gotten smaller and are in the hands of most individuals.

Based on our findings, millennial fans between the ages of 13 and 24 years are craving digital platforms… and football social influencers are bringing them content that they want to consume real-time.

In our survey of 10, 230 millennials across Nigeria showed  they favored watching and reading their favorite football social  influencer over their favorite star players.

Football social influencer are connecting with millennial viewers by providing an authetic and friendly voice that is attractive to them… social influencer like Benson chukwueke, founder of Cheer on Nigeria blog and Inspire football life (IFL community network), has been reaching young football consumers, engaging and building trust over his brand as a football consultant online.

Chukwueke has been impacting value in variety of ways - from football idea and concept development, to youth empowerment and football business mentoring… he is usually on live chat with over 500 fans on daily basis via individual and group chats on WhatsApp, Messengers, Kingschat…

87% fans use social media to regularly consume football-related content. This is nearly twice as much as football content consumed through mainstream  sports media.

Social media is where it is now, whether on Youtube, facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat… millennials in Nigeria just want to consume content on these platforms… viewing live streaming and highlights on Youtube, photo stories on Snapchats and Instagram…

Real-time interactions and fans engagements on Twitter and popular forums like Nairaland reaching millions of  fans at once on trending hashtags #.

Respondent that  watch football related videos have positive purchase intent to buy from brands that use social influencers.

Brand managers in Nigeria should capitalize on the knowledge of this changing consumer buying behavior… Nearly a quarter of today’s marketers are focusing on influencers marketing as being their most effective method for customer acquisition.

Marketers in Nigeria should start channeling their effort in using influencers’ platforms online to positively engage their customers.