Michael Lewis

Professor of Marketing; Faculty Director, Emory Marketing Analytics Center

  • Atlanta GA UNITED STATES
mike.lewis@emory.edu

www.fandomanalytics.com All Things Fandom and Sports Analytics

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Biography

Mike Lewis’s work focuses on the intersection of sports analytics and sports marketing. He studies issues ranging from player performance analytics to brand equity in sports. This approach makes Professor Lewis a unique expert on fandom as his work addresses the complete process from success on the field to success at the box office. Representative research topics include Competitive Balance, Generation Z Fandom, Performance Analytics, Salary Market Inefficiencies, Athlete Star Power, Esports, and Influencer Marketing. He also spends an excessive amount of time thinking about team names and mascots. His sports analytics content can be heard at the Fanalytics with Mike Lewis podcast.

The foundation for Professor Lewis’ work is a deep background in statistics and optimization. These tools provide a data-driven approach to measurement and decision-making. He has published work related to loyalty programs, customer lifetime value, and dynamic pricing in addition to sports topics. Professor Lewis is also the Faculty Director for the Emory Marketing Analytics Center.

Professor Lewis’ background includes a Ph.D. from Northwestern University, an MBA from the University of Chicago, and engineering degrees from the University of Illinois. He has published in outlets such as the Journal of Marketing Research, Marketing Science, Management Science, the Journal of Marketing, and the New York Times.

He can be reached at mike.lewis@emory.edu or www.fandomanalytics.com.

Education

Kellogg Graduate School of Management, Northwestern University

PhD

Marketing

2001

Graduate School of Business, University of Chicago

MBA

Marketing and Finance

1993

College of Engineering, University of Illinois, Urbana

MS

Industrial Engineering and Operations Research

1990

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Areas of Expertise

Revenue Management & Dynamic Pricing
Customer Relationship Management
Sports Analytics
Sports Marketing
Fandom

Publications

Key Policy Considerations for Reducing Public Consumption of Vice Products

American Marketing Association

2021

While the goal of marketing is usually to boost purchase rates and strengthen relationships between consumers and brands, counter-marketing is an increasingly common strategy for reducing the consumption of “vice” goods such as cigarettes ...

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Enduring effects of goal achievement and failure within customer loyalty programs: A large-scale field experiment

Marketing Science

2016

This research investigates whether there are enduring effects of goal achievement and failure within customer loyalty promotion programs. We collaborated with a major hotel chain to launch a large scale field experiment involving 95,532 existing loyalty customers ...

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Incorporating dynamics in customer lifetime value models

Handbook of Research on Customer Equity in Marketing

2015

Over the past two decades the marketing literature has increasingly adopted the perspective that customer relationships should be viewed and managed as economically valuable assets...

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Research Spotlight

2 min

Was anybody ready for it? How Taylor Swift is taking profits beyond the wildest dreams of the Kansas City Chiefs and NFL this year.

It's happening ... and the NFL likely couldn't be happier now that the Kansas City Chiefs are returning to the SuperBowl.Ever since Taylor Swift made her first appearance back in September to cheer on her new beau Travis Kelce, the attention she has brought has had serious returns for the league in the form of new fans, surging ticket prices and record-breaking ratings on TV.In a recent interview with CNBC, Chiefs CEO Clark Hun indicated that 'Our female audience has grown leaps and bounds.'And a recent study from Apex Marketing Group says that Swift has generated brand value of $331.5 million for the Chiefs and the NFL.Goizueta professor of marketing Mike Lewis examined Swift’s fandom to uncover who considers themselves Swifties. He found her fandom is strongest in the younger generations but found 22% of Baby Boomers also claim to be fans. And while her fandom leans female, 29% of male respondents claimed they were fans.And, when he looked at the NFL, Lewis found an interesting link. “There is considerable overlap between football and Taylor Swift fandom. 38% of football fans consider themselves Swift fans compared to only 21% of football apathetics,” says Lewis. Professor Lewis’ full report also looks at the political leanings of Swift fans and their religious affiliations.Mike Lewis is a Professor of Marketing and the Faculty Director at the Emory Marketing Analytics Center.His work focuses on the intersection of sports analytics and sports marketing. He studies issues ranging from player performance analytics to brand equity in sports. This approach makes Professor Lewis a unique expert on fandom as his work addresses the complete process from success on the field to success at the box office.Mike is available to talk about the economic impact Taylor Swift is having on professional football simply click on his icon now to arrange an interview today.

Michael Lewis

2 min

New Goizueta Research: Fandom and the Republican Party and Why It Matters

When we think about “fans” we typically think about sports or entertainment … but new research from the Goizueta Business School shows that political figures are showing increased levels of fandom. Fans of political figures often support candidates, providing a very knowledgeable base for them. Political fans work to use their knowledge to influence others, raise money, attract volunteers and win elections. Professor Mike Lewis from Emory University’s Marketing Analytics Center looked at political fandom among Republicans and the current slate of presidential candidates. The survey of likely Republican voters found former President Donald Trump has a hold on Republican fandom that actually impacts the other candidates in a surprising way.Candidates who are openly anti-Trump see their fandom negatively impacted.The study found former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has a 90% rate of anti-fandom followed by South Carolina’s Tim Scott at 56%. Both have had negative opinions of Trump.The survey can be found here:Political Fandom 2023: The Republicans The survey is a must read for anyone interested in politics, it showed:Political Fandom by Generation: Millennial Republican voters had the strongest Trump fandom (63%) followed by Generation X (58%). Ramaswamy had the second highest fandom among Millenials while DeSantis was second among Gen X. Having a Beer with Trump: The survey of almost 1,000 Republican voters was asked which candidate would participants most likely meet to have a coffee or beer. Former President Trump was the overwhelming choice among respondents in all age groups. Vivek Ramaswamy was the second choice among most age groups. Christie was the last choice in most age groups. Voters and President Biden: A final question asked likely Republican voters how they feel about President Biden. The Biden Positive segment was 23.6% of those asked versus 76.4% in the Biden Negative segment. The largest Biden negative group was among Trump fans which because of the number of supporters was also the largest Biden positive group. The smallest Biden negative group was fans of former Governor Chris Christie.Campaigns and elections are won or lost on polling, market research and the data collected by surveys just like this.  And if you are interested in knowing more about this survey and how fandom is becoming an essential piece of political campaigning then let us help.Mike Lewis is an expert in the areas of analytics and marketing. This approach makes Professor Lewis a unique expert on fandom as his work addresses the complete process from success on the field to success at the box office and the campaign trail.Michael is available to speak with media simply click on his icon now to arrange an interview today.

Michael Lewis

2 min

Expert Insight: When it comes to Taylor Swift's impact on the NFL - media are contacting Emory's experts to know more

It's as if it has been the biggest love story since Grace Kelley married Prince Rainer or when Harry met Meghan for that matter.But as much as fans, media and even the play-by-play callers are giving an enormous amount of attention to Taylor Swift every time she shows up and cheers on her new beau Travis Kelce, experts wonder...will it have a lasting impact on attracting new fans to the NFL?Recently, Bloomberg News explored if an entertainment powerhouse like Taylor Swift can move the yard-stick of a generation that is seeing a shrinking fanbase and serious decline in viewership.  For expert insight, Bloomberg contacted Goizueta Business School's Mike Lewis to offer his opinion and perspective on the situation.Historically, leagues didn’t worry much about the transmission of passion for a sport and team. Homes typically had one screen — the family television — and if a parent was watching the Chiefs game, so were the kids. Fandom at home drove fandom outside of it. Kids wore NFL merchandise to school and bonded with their classmates. Youth sports participation, partly inspired by what was on TV, amplified the community solidarity and enthusiasm for all levels of a given sport.Those traditional forms of fan development are breaking down. "We've evolved to this situation where kids are getting their content via the smartphone and everyone going off to their corner," explains Michael Lewis, director of the marketing analytics center at Emory University. The consequences are striking. In 2021, Lewis published data on sports fandom among different generations. Millennials overwhelmingly identified themselves as the most avid fans (42%), followed by Gen X and Baby Boomers. Gen Z was a striking outlier. Though 23% identified themselves as passionate spectators, 27% identified themselves as "anti-sports." No other generation came close to that level of sports antipathy.However, Gen Z isn’t uninterested in competition. Rather, its media consumption habits are pushing it to different outlets. Survey data that Lewis published in August reveals that esports (competitive video gaming) is now more popular than traditional sports.Professional sports is a multi-billion dollar business and appealing to multi-generational audiences is no easy task.If you're covering or interested in learning more we can help.Mike Lewis’s work focuses on the intersection of sports analytics and sports marketing. He studies issues ranging from player performance analytics to brand equity in sports. This approach makes Professor Lewis a unique expert on fandom as his work addresses the complete process from success on the field to success at the box office. Michael is available to speak with media simply click on his icon now to arrange an interview today.

Michael Lewis
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In the News

Love him or loathe him, Colin Kaepernick is the most influential athlete of the 21st century

Yahoo! Sports  online

2021-08-26

“It’s interesting to see how quickly the NFL evolved, from ‘these are not the values of our audience’ to ‘these are our values, and our audience needs to adjust,’ ” says Dr. Mike Lewis of Emory University's Marketing Analytics Center. “It’s fascinating how quickly the NFL has reversed course.”

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Economists estimate $100M loss in revenue with All-Star Game leaving Georgia

FOX8  online

2021-07-13

Mike Lewis, Marketing Professor at Emory University’s Goizueta Business School said “I think there are direct economic impacts. You lose the hotel business, the revenue business. I’ve seen folks put a number of $100M but the long term is more questionable and more dangerous. If the state of Georgia starts to lose films, if Major League baseball starts to lose fans.”

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How Atlanta Hawks’ Playoff Success Is Bolstering The Team’s Brand – Locally And Nationally

WABE-FM (NPR)  online

2021-06-03

“The playoffs are where the moments happen,” said Mike Lewis who teaches sports marketing at Emory University’s Goizueta Business School. “And moments are really what makes sports. It’s the shared moments that create, you know, frankly, the legends and the stories that fan bases have.”

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Answers

Baseball - If You Speed It Up, Will They Come?
Michael Lewis

In an effort to speed up baseball games and attract more fans, Major League Baseball has unveiled a new set of rules during Spring Training. The rules include a 30-second clock between batters, 15-seconds for pitchers to start their motion, players must be in the batter’s box with eight seconds left on the clock before running to their larger bases. Research by Goizueta Sports Marketing Professor Mike Lewis finds that sports fandom is down and attracting Gen Z could be the key to attracting new fans. Lewis’ research shows younger people like sports with continuous action like soccer and esports. The pitch by baseball to make the game faster is an effort to attract a younger fan.

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