Almost 1 million Australians now play basketball
New research from Roy Morgan shows nearly 1 million Australians are now playing basketball either regularly or occasionally. Over two-thirds of Australia’s basketballers are men (667,000) compared to just under a third who are women (324,000).
More than half of Australia’s basketballers are under 25 years old with 298,000 aged under 18 years old and a further 285,000 aged 18-24 years old. Amongst their older peers a similar number are aged either 25-34 years old (186,000) or aged 35-49 years old (199,000). Only 23,000 Australians aged 50 and over play basketball.
Analysing basketball participation in Australia by State shows that Victoria remains the home of basketball with over 340,000 Victorians playing basketball – more than a third of the national total.
There are just under 300,000 basketball players in New South Wales and nearly 150,000 in Queensland and almost 120,000 basketball players in Western Australia.
There are fewer than 100,000 basketballers spread around the smaller States and Territories of South Australia, Tasmania, the ACT and NT.
Australian basketballers profiled by Age & Gender
Source: Roy Morgan Single Source (Australia), October 2017 – September 2018 (n=15,009).
How do Australian basketballers stack up psychographically?
Helix Personas is a unique and powerful consumer segmentation and data integration tool that combines sophisticated psychographic and behavioural data to classify the Australian population into 54 Personas and six Communities. Helix Personas uses a combination of Roy Morgan Single Source data and third party data sources.
This information is used to understand future buying intentions and media consumption patterns. These are easily integrated with third party datasets.
Aspirationals, Metrotechs and Doing Fine more likely to be basketballers
Analysing Australia’s 991,000 basketballers in more detail reveals an over-representation by three of Roy Morgan’s Helix Personas communities. Aspirationals (8.4%), Metrotechs (6.8%) and Doing Fine (5.2%) are all more likely to be basketballers than regular Australians.
But what type of people are the Australians represented by these communities?
- Aspirationals: Ambitious, up-and-coming, culturally diverse young families, young singles and couples committed to creating a successful future.
- Metrotechs: Highly educated, socially aware, hard-working, ambitious and culturally diverse young singles typically renting apartments in the inner city and inner suburbs.
- Doing Fine: A mix of household types and ages including many young migrants and some older Australians, happily making their way through life on modest incomes across Australia.
Least likely to be basketballers are Australians in the Fair Go (3.3%) and Hearth and Home (4.1%) communities.
Australian basketballers ranked by Helix Personas Communities
Source: Roy Morgan Single Source (Australia), October 2017 – September 2018 (n=15,009).
Michele Levine, CEO, Roy Morgan, says basketball is one of Australia’s leading team sports with nearly 1 million Australians playing basketball regularly or occasionally, placing the sport behind only soccer and cricket as team sports for participation:
“Although basketball doesn’t enjoy the same media profile as several rival sports, there is no question the sport is extremely popular with Australians with nearly 1 million Australians now playing basketball regularly or occasionally.
“Basketballers come in all shapes and sizes but the sport is dominated by men with over two-thirds of Australians playing basketball being men (667,000) compared to just under a third who are women (324,000).
“Perhaps unsurprisingly Victoria is the home of basketball with over 340,000 Victorians playing basketball regularly or occasionally significantly more than any other State. I say unsurprisingly as Melbourne is the World’s (yes that’s right – the World) leading city when it comes to NBA Number 1 draft picks in the 21st century.
“Melbourne has produced 3 NBA Number 1 draft picks this century – more than any city in America or indeed elsewhere in the world. These NBA Number 1 draft picks include Ben Simmons (2016), Kyrie Irving (2011) and Andrew Bogut (2005).
“Bogut in particular is making an effort to give back to the sport that provided so much for him and has recently returned to the local NBL competition, that began early in October, to play for the Sydney Kings – a club without a finals appearance since returning to the league in 2010.
“Of course acknowledging Australia, and Melbourne, as great basketball nurseries for professional players isn’t always the most important factor when considering basketball in Australia. Far more important is understanding who the almost 1 million Australians playing the sport are and what sets them apart from other Australians.
“The Helix Personas data is a unique and powerful consumer segmentation and data integration tool that combines sophisticated psychographic and behavioural data to classify the Australian population into 54 Personas and six communities.
“Roy Morgan’s Helix Personas which has recently been substantially reinvigorated and streamlined shows that Australians from the Aspirationals, Metrotechs and Doing Fine communities are more likely to play basketball than other Australians and are the key people to engage when looking to grow and expand the sport.
“The Roy Morgan product aids the future buying intentions and media consumption patterns of basketballers. This data can be easily integrated with third party data sets. The rich profiling is invaluable for Australian consumer brands, advertisers, governing sporting bodies and major sponsors looking to get involved with a sport that reaches a broad swathe Australians.”
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Margin of Error
The margin of error to be allowed for in any estimate depends mainly on the number of interviews on which it is based. Margin of error gives indications of the likely range within which estimates would be 95% likely to fall, expressed as the number of percentage points above or below the actual estimate. Allowance for design effects (such as stratification and weighting) should be made as appropriate.
| Sample Size | Percentage Estimate |
| 40% – 60% | 25% or 75% | 10% or 90% | 5% or 95% | |
| 1,000 | ±3.0 | ±2.7 | ±1.9 | ±1.3 |
| 5,000 | ±1.4 | ±1.2 | ±0.8 | ±0.6 |
| 7,500 | ±1.1 | ±1.0 | ±0.7 | ±0.5 |
| 10,000 | ±1.0 | ±0.9 | ±0.6 | ±0.4 |
| 20,000 | ±0.7 | ±0.6 | ±0.4 | ±0.3 |
| 50,000 | ±0.4 | ±0.4 | ±0.3 | ±0.2 |
