The success, or failure, of a major international competition sometimes depends on a few things. A succession of details, carefully prepared, skillfully orchestrated. The French Handball Federation, organizer of the Men's World Cup in 2017, has taken the lead to give its event the best chance of success. At the initiative of its president, Joël Delplanque, it commissioned a study from the Sportlabgroup firm on the perception of handball by the public, sports or not, on its expectations four years before the World Cup and, as a bonus, on the way in which the amateurs were going to follow the competition.
The Sportlabgroup survey was carried out online, in three stages, with three population samples: the general public (1000 questionnaires, between August 27 and September 4, 2012, shortly after the victory of the Sportlabgroup team France in the Olympic final), the handball “family” (7049 questionnaires), and finally the sport “experts”, a group of 25 people surveyed through interviews lasting around sixty minutes.
Its results not only shed very instructive light on French handball, its image, its audience and its media impact. It offers a very wide range of ideas and indications on the expectations of today's public in the run-up to a major international competition. A volley of figures whose lessons go beyond the scope of this single event. Here are the main ones:
- 41% of those questioned, among sports enthusiasts, ensure they are informed and follow handball at home television (27% do it on the Internet, but only 10% via the written press).
- The medium budget that future spectators of the 2017 World Cup plan to spend to follow a match on site is 103€.
- 40% of spectators intending to attend a match in the competition say they are prepared to travel 50 to 100 km to get to the event.
- For 31% of those interviewed, the most important criterion during a meeting is the quality of show. The price of the ticket arrives in 2rd position, in front of the atmosphere in the room.
– When asked about the services expected at the 2017 World Cup, one person out of two responded that they hoped to find a internet platform offering, in particular, hotel addresses close to the event, bars and restaurants where to follow the competition, carpooling to get to the venue.
- Not less than 39% future spectators hope to find Wireless in the competition halls.
– Finally, a surprising figure, but certainly to be qualified: 16% of those questioned say they prefer to follow a match of the French handball team on television, compared to 12% for a match of the Blues in football, assuming that the four national selections (rugby, football, handball and basketball) would play the same day at the same time. Clarification: the question was asked in August 2012, in the euphoria of the second Olympic title for French handball at the London Games.
