Leeds United's return to the Premier League has been overwhelmingly positive on multiple fronts. The opportunity to play league football at Old Trafford, Anfield, St James' Park and Stamford Bridge once again is one of the major draws to playing Premier League football.
It has also helped the club pull in an even bigger audience, from across the world too. A new study by Samford University in the United States has found that Leeds are attracting the interest of more and more 'Generation Z' football supporters than any other demographic.
The study found that "over 55,000 people that have started following Leeds United F.C. on social media since the beginning of the 2020 EPL season."
Of those 55,000, around 50% were seen to be under the age of 30 and 85% male. This is the most valuable group of consumers to big brands because through building partnerships with popular football clubs, companies can market their products to a young, up-and-coming audience.
This means Leeds will increasingly become an enticing club to do business with in a commercial sense, if this trend continues. We have already seen the partnership between Leeds United and Roc Nation come to fruition, an agreement which aims to boost Leeds' reputation in the United States.
“Sponsors are scrambling for ways to connect with younger customers and Leeds United’s growing Generation Z fanbase will be a great option,” Darin D. White stated, author of the Samford University report.
Generation Z accounts for young people born in 1997 or later, with millennials (people born between 1981 and 1996) now the second-most sought-after age demographic for brands and sponsors.
The report also inferred that based on other promoted sides from previous years, Leeds' growth bucked the usual trend by the sheer number of new followers gained. Their increased audience ranged from followers in Africa, Asia and even Marcelo Bielsa's Argentina.
Hotspots were found in Nairobi, Lagos, Buenos Aires and understandably the U.K. as well.
For the full report, a link can be downloaded from the Samford University website.
