A poll of 25,000 adolescents in 41 countries conducted by
Brainwaves Group, a subsidiary of D'Arcy Masius Benton & Bowles,
finds that teens worldwide spend about six hours a day watching
TV and basketball is clearly the favorite sport -- by 71% to
soccer's 67%. The sport's popularity was further reflected in a
question on awareness of corporate logos, with the Bulls' logo
among the top ten. Group Managing Dir Elissa Moses: "Basketball
has captured the hearts of teenagers worldwide. It provides
icons, imagery, mythology." NBA marketing exec David Schreff
calls it "empirical evidence that amplifies the anecdotal
evidence we've been hearing for the last five or six years. ...
If advertisers can count on a sports league that has a global
teen-age audience, the reach and frequency of a long season, with
games played shown on TV and promotion of licensed products, they
can see an integrated approach to marketing they can take
advantage of." The poll was conducted from November '95 to April
'96 (Jane Levere, N.Y. TIMES, 6/11).
