Responding to an aging fanbase, the ATP is rebranding and launching a new marketing campaign designed to pull in younger fans through social media and video content. The Tour, which will now be known as just the ATP Tour and not the ATP World Tour, plans to produce over 3,000 videos for social media channels next year.
"Our audience is getting older. When you go to the tournaments, you can see particularly on site it does tend to be a bit older," said George Ciz, the ATP's SVP of marketing & business development. "We are not worried about the next generation of players ... We are thinking of this next generation of fans, the younger ones are a real key focus for us." Ciz did not have audience age figures.
SportsBusiness Journal in '17 reported that the ATP had the second-oldest TV audience age, at 61, behind only the PGA Tour. The ATP will distribute a new video, featuring music from Slydigs, which jumps around feverishly from player to player in action. That video will be offered to the Tour's 63 tournaments and run on Tour programming channels. Individualized player videos are also planned.
The new logo features a player within the lettering of ATP, the first time the player has not been outside the lettering in an ATP logo. The last time it was changed was '09. The logo and content were created by U.K. agency Matta. The campaign will go live on Jan. 1. Ciz emphasized the campaign is proactive. The business of the ATP, he said, has never been better, with revenues up 60% in the last five years.
