The folks at Tennis magazine, a publication of the New York Times Co., are as hard-core about their readers as their readers are about the sport of tennis. They know their readership market so well, they can tell you how many (plus or minus a few) pairs of tennis shoes and how many cans of tennis balls the magazine's readers/ tennis players used last year.

Such data is collected annually, says Hugh J. White, vice president of research and marketing services, to monitor the frequent player market. It's collected via the magazine's annual subscriber study which, says White, is a "measurement of subscribers to Tennis magazine. It's reflective of the hard-core tennis player." The study offers valuable information and useful indicators of the young, active, affluent lifestyle of Tennis magazine subscribers.

The company has conducted the direct-mail subscriber study at various levels of depth since 1975, says White. Besides its monitoring of the market function, the study is conducted for editorial purposes as well. Results of the study have spurred features on tennis instruction, equipment, famous tennis players and locations to play tennis.

1987 subscriber study

The 1987 subscriber study was conducted by Signet Research, Inc., an independent research company in Cliffside Park, N.J. The objective of the study was to gather information about subscriber:

  1. Demographics. Who are the men and women who subscribe to the magazine? What is their lifestyle?
  2. Tennis activity. Where and how often do subscribers play tennis? What are their skill levels?
  3. Relationship to Tennis magazine. How much time do they spend with their issues? How long do they keep them? Do they share this resource with other tennis players?
  4. Lifestyle indicators. How do they spend their money and their free time? This section covers travel, fitness, apparel, financial investments, consumer electronics, credit cards and car rental.

Research methodology

The 1987 survey was mailed in early November, 1986, to 1,472 subscribers of Tennis magazine selected from the publication's domestic circulation list on an every nth name basis. A brand new dollar bill was included with the questionnaire as an incentive. The questionnaire was preceded by an alert postcard mailed on Oct. 30 which informed subscribers of the upcoming survey. A second postcard was mailed on Nov. 5. On Nov. 10 a second questionnaire was sent to the whole sample.

In order to reduce respondent fatigue, two questionnaires (A and B) were prepared. Some questions were the same on both and some appeared in one of the two versions only. Each questionnaire was mailed to half the sample (736 subscribers).

There were 76 post office returns and late and blank returns, so that the net effective mailing was 1,396. By the closing date of Dec. 8, 1986, 778 returns (424 from sample A and 354 from sample B) had been received yielding a 56% response.

Demographic overview

The results from the study find that the men (67%) and women (33%) who subscribe to Tennis magazine are young (35.2 is the median age of the subscribers) and affluent. They have:

  • An average household income of $73,400. Over half (51%) have annual incomes of $50,000 or more, while 16% have annual incomes of $100,000 or more.
  • Subscribers' average net worth is $340,000.
  • 67% own their primary residence, with average market value of $176,800.
  • 17% of home owners plan to purchase a second home.

The subscribers are also well-educated and successful. Seventy-seven percent have attended college, 51% are college graduates and 81% of the employed subscribers hold professional/ technical or managerial/administrator positions.

Tennis habits

The study shows that subscribers are, not surprisingly, active tennis enthusiasts. They are experienced players, with the average subscriber having played for 10 years. Moreover, 79% rate themselves as upper intermediate players or better, and 33% consider themselves advanced, expert or teaching pros.

They are frequent tennis players as well, with 76% playing the game at least 48 times a year or more. The average subscriber plays 104.8 times per year and the average player plays for over two hours per session. Furthermore, 50% of them belong to clubs with tennis facilities.

Reader involvement

Tennis magazine subscribers rely on the magazine to keep them informed about their favorite sport. According to the study:

  • The average subscriber spends almost two hours with a typical issue.
  • 25% have ordered products through direct-mail advertising in the publication.
    Subscriber pass-along readers are active tennis players, too. The study shows:
  • Subscribers share each issue of Tennis magazine with an average 1.5 other readers, which adds to a total of 2.5 readers per copy.
  • 85% of these pass-along readers are also tennis players, with 33% playing 48 or more times per year.
  • The pass-along readership is younger (average age 30.9 years) and more dual audience (male/female ratio 59/41) than the subscriber population.

Lifestyle indicators

Part of the study's section on lifestyle indicators questioned subscribers on the kinds of electronics they use.

They are high-tech buffs. Twenty-nine percent of the sub-scribers own a home computer and 16% planned to buy one. Additionally, 70% own a VCR, 15% own a video camera, 65% own a component stereo system and 71% own a home cassette player.

Another portion of the lifestyle indicator section covered financial investments. The study shows that 87% of the respondents own an insurance policy and 74% own a life insurance policy. Nearly 40% of them currently use or plan to use a financial planner/broker. Moreover, two-thirds of the subscribers own investments such as stocks, bonds, mutual funds, and IRA's.

The last two areas of this section of the study asked subscribers questions about their fitness and travel habits.

The study found that nine out of 10 subscribers are involved in other activities besides tennis to stay fit and most spend close to six hours per week on exercise other than tennis. The majority, 64%, have exercise equipment in their home and of those, 69% use free weights, 47% use an exercise bicycle and 28% use a rowing machine.

Vacationers

The subscribers are vacationers, too. In 1986, 85% of them took an average of three vacations lasting a total of 19 days. Their main vacation lasted nine days and cost an average of $1,728. While on vacation, subscribers participate in a variety of sports. Besides tennis, these are swimming, boating, fishing, golfing, and jogging.

The respondents are also moderate airplane travelers. On the average, the subscribers took six domestic plane trips in 1986; 49% of them traveled abroad by plane in the past three years, and 45% of the domestic plane trips and 71% of the foreign plane trips taken were for pleasure/personal reasons.