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Sports Events Trends: from the POV of the Audience and the Participants

There are various ways to enjoy sports. Those who watch feel entertained, while those who participate also get other benefits, such as a healthier body, reducing stress, and increasing endurance and sleep quality. On the other hand, the transition of the Covid-19 pandemic status to endemic will also affect the rise of sports events in 2023.

Jakpat conducted a survey to find out the behavior and habits of sports events enjoyers, either as spectators or participants. The report involving 2103 respondents shows favorable sports events, reasons for participating in sports events, and plans to participate in sports events this year.

In general, most people enjoy watching sports events, either online, by watching on TV or streaming, or by coming directly to the location of the match. Meanwhile, 22% of people claim to have been participants in sports events.

In detail, both Gen Z and Millennials love to watch sports events online. While the percentage of men who have participated in sports games is twice as much as women.

Football is the most watched sport (75%), both in person and online, followed by badminton (66%) and volleyball (45%). Based on gender, women prefer to watch badminton rather than football. Their interest is also higher in basketball, while men are more enthusiastic about futsal.

On the other hand, those who have been participants tend to participate in badminton and football events with a percentage of 42% each, followed by futsal and running. The most popular sports events for men are football and futsal with a percentage of around 50% each. While women tend to be interested in participating in running and volleyball events.

Seeing the interest in sports events, Aska Primardi as Head of Research Jakpat revealed that the largest allocation of household expenditures in Indonesia is no longer on food and drink needs, but on entertainment needs to fill free time.

“The form of entertainment here is not only limited to art entertainment but also includes entertainment in the field of sports. In line with these facts, from the results of this research we find that public participation in the field of sports is not limited to spectators, but also as participants/players of the sports event,” he explained.

In addition, Aska also highlighted the sports that are most in demand by the public, both as audience and participants, namely badminton and football.

“Both sports have their segments, for example, the majority of football participants are from the middle-lower segment, while badminton participants are mostly from the middle-upper segment. The high interest in sports activities is what then becomes the basis for many companies competing to sponsor these sports events,” he said.

Participation in sports events

As many as 49% of respondents who have been participants admitted to participating in 2-3 sports events in the last six months. One in 4 people participated in a badminton match. Specifically, 1 in 2 women participated in badminton matches in the past half year. Meanwhile, 4 out of 10 men participated in futsal or football in the same period.

One in 10 people has participated in a sports event in the “lomba 17-an” that is held to commemorate Independence Day. In addition, 6% of respondents participated in the Maybank Bali Marathon 2023 and 3% participated in the Bupati Cup 2023, a regional competition consisting of several categories such as football, badminton, and futsal.

Half of the respondents also said they were interested and planning to participate in sports events in 2024. Some of the events they are eyeing are Pocari Sweat Run Indonesia 2024, Bupati Cup 2024, and East Java Interschool Football Tournament 2024.