Want to drive lots of revenue online? The sports arena might be your ticket.
A new comScore report breaks down visitor profiles for the four largest professional sports websites in the U.S.: Major League Baseball (MLB.com), the National Football League (NFL.com), the National Basketball Association (NBA.com) and the National Hockey League (NHL.com). And by their findings, these sports fans have plenty of money to spend.
Take a look at the chart below. What first stands out is that in the $75,000+ category of the U.S. Internet population, every major sports' visitors skews higher than average. For example, the U.S. Internet population earning $75K accounts for around 41 percent of the total. In relation, the $75K and above audience at MLB.com is upwards of 53 percent. And the same trend holds true for the rest of the sports websites. In short, the online sports enthusiast appears to have more flexible income than their non-sporting counterparts.
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The data presented also breaks down these sites by age group. The largest target for the coveted 18-34 age bracket are those visitors to NBA.com, with over 38 percent share. However, the NBA group doesn't have the most money to spend - that would be those visitors to NHL.com, followed closely by visitors to MLB.com.
Are you sold on marketing to sports fans? If so, check out TicketNetwork.com's affiliate program through Commission Junction. They just upped their affiliate commissions to 15 percent - one of the highest in the industry. The new rate is valid from October 1 through December 31, 2009. They are also offering coupon promotion through the affiliate program, offering consumers $15 off their purchase of $100 or more.
"TicketNetwork is always searching for new ways to further reward affiliates for their marketing efforts and we determined that the best approach to encourage additional sales is to increase the commission payout to a competitive fifteen (15%) percent," said Crystal Astrachan, Director, TicketNetwork's Affiliate Marketing program. "The solid commitment of TicketNetwork's affiliate marketers has made TicketNetwork's program the fastest growing affiliate program in the ticketing industry," added Astrachan.
Event ticket sales took a hit during the recession. However, the NFL is now in full swing, the NBA and NHL are about to start up and the MLB playoffs are about to begin. With this audience and a 15 percent commission, now is the time to play ball.
Plus, this audience is not just buying tickets - the options are wide open. Amazon and eBay have vast amounts of sports-related material, and there are even affiliate programs with major sports equipment stores like Sports Authority.