Australia

Put the Wimbledon champagne on ice: Aussie tennis fans love a tipple

01-Jul-2014 - Last updated on 02-Jul-2014 at 06:01 GMT

With champagne corks popping at Wimbledon this week—an expected 28,000 of them over the course of the SW19 fortnight—Australian drinks marketers would be advised to tap into the bubbly market back home, according to new research.

The study, compiled by Roy Morgan Research, has revealed that Aussie tennis lovers share their British counterparts’ love of champagne and sparkling wine—and then some.

Lovely bubbly

Counting the 1.2m Australian adults who play tennis, alongside the 5.7m who watch the Championships on the television, as tennis fans, Roy Morgan found that over one-fifth have consumed champagne or sparkling wine at least once in an average four-week period, making both groups one-third more likely to do so than the average Aussie—of which just 16% opt for the tipple.

Moreover, tennis fans also have an above-average taste for non-sparkling and table wines, which over half of tennis lovers drink it in any given month, compared with 42% of the total population over 18.

When it comes to other popular alcoholic beverages, however, players and viewers don’t always coincide so closely in their consumption habits.

Aussie adults who play tennis are significantly more likely to drink beer, cider, and spirits than those who watch it on TV—or the general population, for that matter.

Higher demographics

“Our data shows that Australia’s tennis fans are more likely to consume sparkling wine than the average Aussie, but whether this is due to their interest in tennis, or the result of other factors, is debatable,” said Norman Morris of Roy Morgan Research

“For example, Aussies who play tennis are 51% more likely than the average Australian to earn incomes of A$100,000 [US$94,575] or above, which also happens to be the income level of those most likely to drink sparkling wine or Champagne in an average four-week period.

“Of course, playing tennis is a sociable activity, with players often having a drink at the club house or going to the pub for a post-match beverage. Another statistic confirmed by our data is that tennis players are 35% more likely than the average Aussie to go to a pub or hotel only for a drink.

“Sadly, our data does not reveal the likelihood of an Australian winning Wimbledon this year,” Morris noted.