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By the end of 2016, around one in eight Australians could own a fitness band, Roy Morgan Research has found, amid snowballing take-up among some sports participants.According to Roy Morgan, 1.54 million Australians aged 14+ (8 per cent) already own a personal fitness band or fitness tracker, with another 785,000 (4 per cent) intending to buy one in the next 12 months, in addition to another 50,000 or so buyers who already have one.
If these intenders follow through, Roy Morgan has found that there will be around 2.3 million Australians (12 per cent) sporting fitness bands by the end of the year.
Australians regularly or occasionally participating in sports or physical activities are more likely overall to already own (9 per cent) or have the intention to buy (5 per cent) a fitness band or tracker, however this varies widely across sports.
Softballers and triathletes have been the earliest adopters, with 20 per cent of each sport’s participants already owning a fitness band, standing at 2.5 times the norm, with squash (19 per cent), marathons/running (18 per cent), netball (17 per cent), mountain biking (17 per cent), field hockey (16 per cent) and rock-climbing/abseiling (16 per cent) among other sports with high initial take-up rates.
Meanwhile, among those sports that have been comparatively lagging, 17 per cent of gymnasts plan to get a fitness band soon and 16 per cent of baseballers.
While already having a high rate of ownership, 15 per cent of softballers, 14 per cent of squash players and 13 per cent of field hockey players intend to buy one in the next 12 months, with other sports and activities with a high intention including dancing (13 per cent), boxing (12 per cent) and athletics/track and field (12 per cent).
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Roy Morgan Research CEO Michele Levine noted that in the coming year the total number of Australians with a fitness band or tracker looks set to increase by around 50 per cent.
“These results suggest there could well be a snowball effect happening among softball, squash and field hockey participants, with next-year intention set to increase the number of owners within each sport by 70 to 80 per cent,” Levine commented. “As more teammates and competitors wear, use and talk about fitness bands (even if not necessarily while playing that particular sport), this drives intention among the others.
“This potential growth rate is well above that of around 50 per cent among participants in more individual, non-competitive sports, including marathons or running, mountain biking and rock-climbing.
“It therefore appears that a snowballing effect is more pronounced within team-based, competitive sports. Similar sports, but with older participants and lower adoption rates, such as lawn bowls, golf, tennis and cricket, may well become the next boom segments in future.”
