Tennis Channel is No. 1 Affluent Ad-Supported Network on Television

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Research from both Rentrak TV Essentials January-December 2014 and Ipsos Affluent Survey 2014 Doublebase names Tennis Channel's audience as the most affluent among all ad-supported television networks. The data also points to the economic strength of the network's viewers, with No. 1 or top-five rankings in studies across a wide variety of key categories highly prized by advertisers: income, financial resources, luxury automotive, travel and tourism, health and fitness, spirits and entertainment, and others. Additionally, the studies reveal the markets with the greatest Tennis Channel tune-in in 2014, both in total viewing homes and as a percentage of the number of network homes tuned in at any given time, with longtime tennis markets like New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Atlanta and Miami finding their way onto both top-10 lists.

Rentrak TV Essentials measures more than 30 million televisions and approximately 14 million households across the country, and delivers precise and reliable TV ratings all day, every day across the largest media landscape. The Ipsos Affluent Survey (previously known as the Mendelsohn Affluent Survey) is the definitive source of information about the lives, lifestyles, spending and media habits of 67.5 million affluent Americans with $100K+ household income.

Household Income – Rentrak

Rentrak agrees that Tennis Channel's audience represents the highest concentration of upscale homes among all ad-supported networks. The channel is No. 1 in percentage of viewing households in the four highest income category breaks provided by Rentrak: Household incomes of $125K+, $150K+, $200K+, and $250K+.

Top 10 Ad-Supported Networks Ranked by Index of $150K+ Homes

1) Tennis Channel				6) Bloomberg
2) CNBC				7) ESPN Classic
3) NBC Sports Network				8) Bravo
4) NHL Network				9) ESPN
5) Golf Channel				10) E!

Household Income – Ipsos

Per Ipsos, Tennis Channel's audience represents the highest concentration of upscale homes among all ad-supported networks. The channel is No. 1 in percentage of viewers with annual household income of $250K+, $300K+, $400K+ and $500K+. Tennis Channel is also No. 1 in mean household income, at $259,700:

Top 10 Ad-Supported Networks Ranked by Mean Household Income

1) Tennis Channel						6) Bloomberg
2) Ovation						7) AWE (formerly Wealth TV)
3) Golf Channel						8) CNBC
4) Fox Business						9) BBC World News
5) Logo						10) NBA TV

Financial Resources*

The network leads in affluent homes when ranked according to financial-resources categories as well as personal income. Tennis Channel's viewers are No. 1 in home value, annuities, exchange-traded funds, mutual funds and total funds. The channel tops all networks when audiences' liquid assets are factored, with its viewers' mean number of $830,900:

Top 10 Ad-Supported Networks Ranked by Mean of Total Liquid Assets

1) Tennis Channel						5) Fox Business
2) Logo						7) AXS TV
3) Bloomberg						8) CNBC
4) AWE						9) Discovery Fit & Health
5) Golf Channel						10) Velocity

Luxury Automotive*

According to the 2013-2014 research, Tennis Channel is No. 1 in a variety of highly desired luxury automotive categories as well. In addition to having an audience with the highest concentration of new luxury car prospects ("those most likely to purchase") among ad-supported cable networks, Tennis Channel's households rank No. 1 in traditional midsized luxury car ownership, $40K+ vehicle budgets and as prospective buyers of used luxury cars. Audience members also rank at or near the top of numerous categories that reflect current ownership of high-end automotive brands. Tennis Channel's viewing household base boasts a greater concentration of current Audi owners than any other ad-supported cable network. The network's ranking remains high when adjusted for concentration of viewing households who own: Mercedes and Infiniti (No. 2), BMW and Lexus (No. 3), Acura and Cadillac (No. 5), and Lincoln (No. 6).

Top 10 Ad-Supported Networks Ranked on Most Likely to Purchase a New Luxury Vehicle

1) Tennis Channel							6) MSNBC
2) CNBC							7) Fox News
3) Bloomberg							8) CNN
4) Golf Channel							9) Al Jazeera America
5) Fox Business							10) NBC Sports Network

"By design, Tennis Channel is able to provide our media partners with a direct avenue to the most sought-after demographics in television, and at a scale that represents one of the more significant returns on investment in media buying today," said Allison Bodenmann, vice president, head of advertising sales, Tennis Channel. "And this is despite being an independent network limited in distribution compared to most of our vertically integrated competitors. We've built the only year-round lineup of tennis on TV every day, but we deliver more than just passionate sports fans who can't wait to watch live competition. Tennis sponsors have the added value of reaching an audience that's almost evenly split between men and women – unique in all of sports – and a highly participatory viewer base that plays and remains engaged with the sport away from the TV."

Travel and Tourism*

Tennis Channel also ranks highly in affluent-audience travel and tourism categories. Network viewers are No. 1 in first-class flights, business travel round trips and luxury hotel stays. They are No. 3 in frequent hotel programs, No. 5 in foreign trips and No. 10 in frequent car rental programs. In mean amount spent on travel last year, Tennis Channel's audience ranked No. 1 with $17,637, more than $10K above the study's average for all networks:

Top 10 Ad Supported Networks Ranked on Mean Amount Spent on Travel

1) Tennis Channel						6) AWE
2) Logo						7) NBA TV
3) Golf Channel						8) CNN
4) BBC World News						9) VH1 Classic
5) Bloomberg						10) Nick at Nite

Health and Fitness*

Not surprisingly given the high percentage of recreational participation among viewers of televised tennis versus other televised sports, Tennis Channel's audience ranks highly in physical fitness studies as well. While it seems obvious network viewers would rank No. 1 among those playing recreational tennis, they are in the top ten in other sports-participation studies, including: snow skiing (No. 2), jogging/running (No. 7) and golf (No. 8). Tennis Channel viewers rank No. 2 among all affluent viewers who consider themselves physically fit and, of critical importance to media buyers, rank No. 1 in average money spent on sports equipment each year, $4,519, four times the $947 average for all networks:

Top 10 Ad-Supported Networks Ranked on Average Annual Sports Equipment Expenditures

1) Tennis Channel				6) NBA TV
2) Logo				7) Golf Channel
3) WE tv				8) Oxygen
4) VH1 Classic				9) Science Channel
5) Discovery Fit & Health				10) Nick at Nite

Movies and Entertainment, Spirits*

Tennis Channel's affluent viewers rank No. 1 in money spent on movies, theater and concerts last year, with $848, double the category's $406 average. Likewise, in mean amount spent on alcoholic beverages, the network is No. 1 with a $2,838 annual expenditure. Network viewers also rank No. 1 among medium/heavy alcohol consumers and among heavy alcohol consumers. They also rank No. 1 among affluent beverage consumers of champagne and vodka, while ranking No. 2 in total wine consumption.

Top 10 Ad-Supported Networks Ranked on Tickets/Admission Fees Spent on Movies/Theater/Concerts

1) Tennis Channel					6) WE tv
2) Logo					7) Discovery Fit & Health
3) NBA TV					8) Sundance
4) VH1 Classic					9) VH1
5) Golf Channel					10) Investigation Discovery

Minority, Gender-Balanced Audience Base*

More than 40 percent of Tennis Channel's affluent viewers are minorities, ranking No. 3 with combined Asian, Hispanic and African-American viewing. It also has high rankings in the percentage of Asians (No. 3) and African-Americans (No. 9). This diversity takes on increased significance when paired with findings on sports-network demographics. Tennis Channel leads all sports networks in balance of composition between men and women viewers as well, with an atypical 57-percent/43-percent split between men and women. In a field in which network audiences roughly contain one woman for every two men (64/36), Tennis Channel's audience is 43-percent female, the highest of all sports networks.

Sports-Network Audience Composition – Percentage of Women

1) Tennis Channel					6) NBA TV
2) NHL Network					7) NBC Sports Network
3) CBS Sports Network					8) ESPN News
4) ESPN Classic					9) MLB Network
5) ESPN					10) ESPN2

Top Tennis Channel DMAs*

The Rentrak TV Essentials data also sheds light on the top Tennis Channel-viewing markets in the United States last year. In total viewing households, the markets that averaged the most homes tuning into the network at any given time reflect the country's largest metropolitan areas:

Top 10 Markets Ranked by Average Total Day Audience in Homes

1) New York					6) Boston
2) Los Angeles					7) Philadelphia
3) San Francisco					8) Washington, D.C.
4) Atlanta					9) Miami, Fla.
5) Chicago					10) Dallas

However, when ranked according to the percentage of homes that were tuned into the network at any given time within each market, a different landscape emerges:

Top 10 Markets Ranked by Total Day Household Area Rating

1) Palm Springs, Calif.				6) Santa Barbara, Calif.
2) San Francisco				7) Los Angeles
3) Miami, Fla.				7) Tucson, Ariz.
4) New York				9) Monterey, Calif.
5) Atlanta				10) Orlando, Fla.

Five traditional tennis hotbeds – New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Atlanta and Miami – are the only markets to appear on both lists.

*Sources: Most data is the result of the 2014 Ipsos Affluent Survey Doublebase adults 25-54, rank among all ad-supported cable networks, excluding kids and Spanish-speaking networks. Exceptions include data on luxury automotive trends and DMA audience tune-in (Rentrak TV Essentials, incorporating Polk Automotive data, January-December 2014, rank among all ad-supported cable networks, excluding kids and Spanish-speaking networks).

Tennis Channel (www.tennischannel.com) is the only 24-hour, television-based multimedia destination dedicated to both the professional sport and tennis lifestyle. A hybrid of comprehensive sports, health, fitness, pop culture, entertainment, lifestyle and travel programming, the network is home to every aspect of the wide-ranging, worldwide tennis community. It also has the most concentrated single-sport coverage in television, with telecast rights to the US Open, Wimbledon, Roland Garros (French Open), Australian Open, Emirates Airline US Open Series, ATP World Tour Masters 1000 events, top-tier WTA competitions, Davis Cup and Fed Cup by BNP Paribas, and Hopman Cup. Tennis Channel is carried by nine of the top 10 video providers.

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