Though it might seem absurd through the lenses of geography and culture, when it comes to the world of sports, New York-area fans and Boston-area fans see the other contingent as a bitter, sharply-contrasted opponent. They adhere to a staunch rivalry often in excess of that maintained by the actual players, and that heat will be at a maximum for Sunday’s Super Bowl matchup between the New York Giants and New England Patriots.
Pats fans and Giants fans are certainly not on same wavelength going into Sunday’s game--one fanbase reveres Tom Brady as Godlike, while the other maintains certainty that Eli Manning will reiterate his status as the best clutch player with that last name—but are they really all that different? Is the vitriolic distinction one of substance or one of imagination?
Colligent, a firm that measures mutual engagement between brands and social media, provides some insight into the issue. By looking at the brands, publications, entertainment properties with which passionate Giants and Patriots fans engage, observers can get at least a minor sense of how the fanbases uniquely fit into the greater marketplace.
New York Giants Fans (rankings based on mutual engagement)
Top Brands: Adorama (camera store, "official retailer" of the Giants), Madison Square Garden (New York City venue), StubHub!, Citibank, Madden NFL, Pepsi Max, DirecTV, PETCO, NY Metropolitan Transit Authority, Reebok
Top Print Publications: New York Daily News, New York Post, Sporting News, Newsday, Dime, San Francisco Chronicle, Atlanta-Journal Constitution, USA Today, Complex Magazine, The Village Voice
Top Digital Publications/Services: Bleacher Report, Yahoo! Sports, Grantland, SB Nation, ESPN3, Rotoworld, Bloomberg Sports, Gothamist, Mediaite, Gawker
Top Music: Joell Ortiz, DJ Envy, Styles P, Jadakiss, Bruce Springsteen, Ghostface Killah, Q-Tip, Lloyd Banks, RZA, Pusha T
Top Movies: 30 Minutes or Less, Green Hornet, Dolphin Tale, Star Wars, Despicable Me, Zombieland, Ghost Rider, Our Idiot Brother, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, The Muppets
Top Television: NFL on FOX, YES (regional sports network), NFL Live (ESPN show), NFL Network, MLB on FOX, Sunday Night Football (weekly, primetime NFL game on NBC), SportsNet New York (regional sports network), MLB Network, Sunday NFL Countdown (ESPN show), MSG Network (regional sports network)
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New England Patriots Fans (rankings based on mutual engagement)
Top Brands: TD Garden (Boston venue), Madden NFL, Newbury Comics (regional music and hobby shop), Harpoon (craft brewery based in Boston), Dunkin’ Donuts, Mohegan Sun (Connecticut casino), Foxwoods Resort (Connecticut casino), Boloco (regional fast casual chain), Friendly’s, EA Sports
Top Print Publications: Boston Herald, Boston, Boston Globe, New York Post, USA Today, Sporting News, Dime, New York Daily News, Boston Business Journal, Sports Illustrated
Top Digital Publications/Services: Boston.com, Yahoo! Sports, Grantland, ESPN3, Bleacher Report, SB Nation, Rotoworld, Pandora, Bloomberg Sports, Orbitz
Top Music: Steven Tyler, Bret Michaels, Sam Adams, Rob Thomas, Joey McIntyre, Lloyd Banks, Jordan Knight, Dropkick Murphys, Travis Barker, Ice-T
Top Movies: The Other Guys, Inglourious Basterds, Star Wars, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, The Muppets, Green Hornet, Cowboys vs. Aliens, Dolphin Tale, Captain America, Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Top Television: NESN (regional sports network), WFXT (regional FOX affiliate), WBZ (regional CBS affiliate), WHDH (regional NBC affiliate), NFL on FOX, NFL Network, WCVB (regional ABC affiliate), Comcast SportsNet New England, NFL Live (ESPN show), Sunday Night Football (weekly, primetime NFL game on NBC)
Key Conclusions
Sports fans dominate the engagement – As America’s true pastime, football is a cultural attraction that draws from an audience far broader than the "sports diehards." Millions of Americans with little-to-no general sports interest put on their local team jerseys, get the beer flowing, and tune into NFL action on Sundays.
But as far as online engagement is concerned, the items of mutual engagement (particularly the publications and television shows) reveal that legitimate sports fans are the dominant contingent.
But "sports" engagement is more significant for Giants fans than Patriots fans – For both teams, the data clearly suggests that sports fans are the true online engagement focus. From a mutual engagement standpoint, however, Giants fans appear to be far more deeply-entrenched in the "sports niche."
For Giants fans, the top brands of mutual engagement are almost-exclusively related to athletics, either as actual sports properties and merchants or, at the very least, prominent football-advertisers and partners.
Patriots fans still have a passion for sports properties, but they also show a proclivity to engage with non-sports, New England-area brands like burrito dealer Boloco, CD and hobby shop Newbury Comics and local brewery Harpoon.
As such,
Regional engagement is stronger for Patriots fans than Giants fans – Both show regional preferences in categories like publications, music and television, but when it comes to branding, the Giants’ chart is far more mainstream and "national" in scope. From local casinos resorts to local breweries, the brands that stand out for Patriots fans are also those who say something about who the fans are and from where they come.
Hip-hop versus Pop-rock – Save for New Jersey icon Bruce Springsteen, all of the top music engagement sources for Giants fans are hip-hop artists. Patriots fans, meanwhile, generally prefer pop-rock acts and have a strong affinity for throwbacks.
Are you a Giants or Patriots fan? Do these profiles at all describe YOU?