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Television companies battle for the rights to big sporting events, and sponsors spend billions of dollars backing sports and players. Their commitment is based on audience figures, demographics and gut instinct. But does anybody really understand what makes sports fans so passionate?

They do now. That's the thinking behind Passion Drivers, a new study produced by Octagon. The study was conducted over 12 months among 15,000 passionate fans of 25 sports in the US, UK, China, Australia and South Africa.

Among other things, it explains what enthuses fans of NFL in the US, why British soccer fans are so devoted and why the Chinese are crazy about table tennis. The report suggests that all sports fans are motivated by certain key feelings or emotions -- the characteristics Octagon has named "passion drivers". 

They include:
Escapism - sport provides the time to get away from one's responsibilities;
Hero worship - the relationship that a fan builds with players;
TV experience - sport as superb TV entertainment;
Nostalgia - a love of sport that springs from childhood memories, the players of the past and the history of the game.

Crucially for sponsors and advertisers, fans of the same sports in different markets have different passion drivers. 

Take football, for instance. In the UK, team devotion is the number one driver for football fans. Rivalry, as in, gloating when a rival team loses, is also important. Participation ranks relatively low, as anyone who is aware of the decline in the numbers of fans playing football on a Saturday and Sunday won't be surprised to hear.

However, in the US, where football is still a relatively niche sport and TV coverage is more limited, the active participation factor is much more important for fans. 

In China, football fans follow the sport for a love of the game, driven by the excitement of the events, along with a blossoming connection with teams and players. Team devotion and hero worship is expected to increase.

Motor sport is another example of differing attitudes, according to Octagon. Fans of Formula 1 in the UK and Nascar in the US connect to the sport through the affinity they feel with their favourite drivers.  This driver affinity factor is created by constant media coverage of the leading drivers, which brings them closer to fans. 

But motor sports enthusiasts in China tend to be influenced by other factors besides driver affinity. Love of the sport, devotion to the team, and the ability to discuss the sport all rank higher for Chinese motor racing fans than hero worship.

Insights like those above explain why Passion Drivers is such a worthwhile study for sports marketers and sponsors.  For brands, the facility exists to link the Passion Drivers research with its own consumer, brand and channel research. This enables it to match brand drivers with Passion Drivers and identify the best sports environment for communicating the key brand values to the right target market.

Matt Hales is planning director for Octagon Marketing UK.

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