• by David Kaplan , January 31, 2005

There is a hidden side to the majority of Super Bowl watchers: sure, they'll cheer the Bud Bowl like drunken louts--but the day after, they'll want to chat about movies over red wine or chardonnay, according to a survey by Scarborough Research.

Furthermore, when they're not sipping gracefully, these individuals--by combining measures, this adds up to some 70 percent of Super Bowl viewers--are alternately using financial services for retirement or college savings investments, or planning to attend a cultural event, such as a concert or museum.

"Advertisers tend to reflexively focus on the more 'traditional guy' aspects of people who watch the Super Bowl, and the Super Bowl is heavy with beer and auto ads," said Howard Goldberg, senior vice president, Scarborough Sports Marketing. "While it's true that those marketers do capture their targets with the Super Bowl ads, there's more to these consumers than meets the eye."

The survey, which was done via postal mail and phone and involved more than 200,000 adults (18+) in 75 top U.S. markets, also showed that, invariably, NFL fans (described as "consumers who said they attended an NFL game in the past year, listened to an NFL game on the radio in the past year, watched an NFL game on broadcast or cable television in the past year, or are very, somewhat, or a little bit interested in the NFL") are nearly identical in their tastes, lifestyle, and level of income. For example, 58 percent of Super Bowl watchers don't have kids, while 57 percent of NFL fans answered the same way; also, 72 percent of Super Bowl fans own their residence, as do 71 percent of NFL fans.

"The survey shows it's important for advertisers to avoid easy stereotyping of sports," Goldberg said. Perhaps next year, Bud Lite will face off against Korbel in the 2006 Bud Bowl.