As the excitement builds for an incredible summer of sport, an alarming number of fans are planning to shun pubs due to exasperating behaviour from fellow supporters.
New research from Roku reveals that three quarters (72%) of fans plan to watch games in homes rather than the pub (21%). Indeed, only half (53%) of those who usually prefer watching games in pubs plan to do so this summer, suggesting that fans have reached a tipping point of tolerance for over-the-top celebrations and are retreating to the sofa where they can focus on the game.
In response, Roku has teamed up with pundit Chris Sutton to trial The Quiet Lion, a pub experience designed for the fan who wants all the social benefits of watching in the pub without being drenched in beer or subjected to endless hot takes on line-ups, set piece routines and more. The trial included fans using Roku’s Headphone Mode to give them total focus on the game.
Three pints on the shirt
To explain why so many fans are shunning pubs, and help them build The Quiet Lion, Roku asked fans for their biggest turn-offs. Fellow fan behaviour ranges from the infuriating, with 41% saying they have had to endure people talking non-stop rubbish, to the intimidating with 1 in 3 pub goers (33%) having experienced aggressive fans. Overzealous celebrations are also frustrating fans with 24% experiencing pint throwing and, for one unfortunate respondent, “a man running naked through the bar wearing the St Georges flag”.
The Quiet Lion
All this has led to 9 in 10 (88%) of pub going fans now avoiding watching games there, but the good news for publicans is that the vast majority (84%) say they could be persuaded back if the pub experience and fan behaviour improved, so Roku crowdsourced the most popular solutions.
Top of the list was practical steps like more bar staff to ease queues (38%), but there are suggestions to moderate behaviour they can take too, like creating sit-down only pubs (30%), banning pint throwing (26%) and designated quiet zones (19%).
Clearly not all fans want to be squashed, shouted at and soaked in beer…
In response, Roku created The Quiet Lion, a watch experience that centres the fan, at Croydon pub The Porter and Sorter, a stone’s throw from the spiritual home of pint throwing, Box Park Croydon.
Roku teamed up with outspoken pundit Chris Sutton. Sutton said: “There’s nothing wrong with passionately supporting your team, but some fans are crossing into performative, over the top behaviour that gets in the way of people who want to watch the game and appreciate it. Checking out The Quiet Lion, it’s clear that there is a world where sociably watching the game in the pub can still exist without getting a pitcher of beer over your head when the ball goes in off someone’s knee for an equaliser in a group stage game…”
Richard Halton, Country Manager at Roku U.K. said: “At Roku we love football as much as you do, but it’s clear from our research that the pub watching experience is no longer working for most fans. There’s a need for an alternative that centres the fan who wants a cold draft beer and to watch in a communal space but still be able to fully focus on the game. The best of watching the game at the pub combined with the best of watching at home. Our trial fans especially enjoyed Headphone Mode, which gave them an uninterrupted audio stream of the game and allows up to four people to get TV audio straight into their headphones. Based on the trial we may be bringing the Quiet Lion experience to sporting events this summer – stay tuned”
For more information on how Roku’s TV streaming products and operating system can create the optimum TV experience for watching the action this summer, go to roku.com/en-gb.
