Professional Baseball in the Era of 10 Million Spectators, Led by Women in Their 20s and 30s

Women in Their 20s Account for 77.9% of Baseball Stadium Visitors
Interest in the KBO League Grows

Last year's record of surpassing 10 million spectators for the first time in professional baseball was led by young women in their 20s and 30s.

The Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) announced on the 24th the results of a fan tendency survey conducted on 8,000 people, combining 4,000 online and 4,000 offline respondents, commissioned to Global Research Co., Ltd.

MZ women are watching and cheering at a baseball game. Photo by Yonhap News

The offline survey was conducted among spectators aged 15 and older who visited baseball stadiums during the 2024 season. Among all offline respondents, 64.3% said their interest in professional baseball increased compared to 2023. Among them, 77.9% of women in their 20s, which is higher than the average, reported increased interest.

Women in their 20s and 30s also exceeded the average in purchasing cheering team merchandise. The average spending on cheering goods among all spectators was about 235,000 KRW, with women in their 20s spending 237,000 KRW and women in their 30s spending 273,000 KRW.

Additionally, women in their 20s showed differences from other age groups in where they obtained professional baseball-related information. The KBO stated, "The majority responded that they mainly look for information on video sites such as YouTube. A significant number of women in their 20s said they check information through social networking services (SNS) like Instagram." They added, "This is attributed to last year's contract with TVING (an OTT provider) for wired and wireless broadcasting rights, allowing baseball fans to freely use game videos under 40 seconds on social media platforms."

In the online survey regarding media for watching KBO League games, TV (77.4%) was the most selected. However, respondents in their 20s and 30s reported watching via mobile devices at rates of 76.7% and 70.4%, respectively, the highest among all groups. Notably, the mobile live streaming viewing rate among those in their 20s increased compared to 72.9% in the 2023 survey. The media through which professional baseball-related content is accessed were YouTube (66.5%), portal sites (44.4%), and Instagram (17.6%), in that order. This trend was similar across all age groups. However, Instagram usage was relatively higher at 32.6% among those in their 20s.

Among the crowd filling Gocheok Sky Dome, women stand out. Photo by Yonhap News

The appropriate price per cheering seat as perceived by KBO League fans was calculated at 19,376 KRW, about 5,000 KRW higher than the actual average spending per customer of 14,648 KRW in the 2024 season.

Interest in the KBO League has significantly increased compared to last year. The percentage of online survey respondents who answered "interested" rose from 32.4% last year to 49.7%, and in the offline survey, it increased from 56.6% to 64.3%.

Professional baseball attracted 10,887,705 spectators last year, surpassing 10 million for the first time since its inception in 1982. The previous highest attendance record was 8,406,688 in 2017.