2024 State of Gaming Report
In a time of media fragmentation, economic uncertainty, and increasing consumer participation in media….there is one certainty, people still love sports! Over the last year, on average, one third of the Internet population visited a sports entity during the period of a month. It’s good to know that it’s not only me!
A deeper look into this phenomenon shows that Canadians are the biggest lovers of their sports content online, with 50% of Canadian Internet users visiting the sports site category in a month. The popularity of sports visitation in Canada is followed by the U.K and then the USA.
Avg. Monthly % Reach June 2008 - July 2009
Canada
50.2
U.K.
44.2
U.S.
44.1
Spain
39.4
Brazil
34.2
Source: Comscore Inc, All Location, Sports Category, % Reach
There are many different ways that people are getting their sports fix online, including viewing sports content through their portals, visit league websites, using sports aggregators/broadcasters, or watching highlights/programs/player interviews through video.
Sports entities are viewed online by over 360 million people worldwide, proving just how attracted consumers are to sports content. Exposure to the sports category in the U.S. covers all demographics with high indices for men and higher income households.
Demographic Segment
% Average Composition of Sports Category
Average Index Visitors to Sports Category Relative to Total Internet
Persons: 2-17
15.7
78
Persons: 18-24
12.0
93
Persons: 25-34
18.1
109
Persons: 35-44
21.5
115
Persons: 45-54
18.6
111
Persons: 55+
14.2
96
All Males
55.9
All Females
89
HHI US: Under $60K
41.5
88
HHI US: $60K+
58.5
110
HHI US: $75K+
46.6
113
HHI USD: 100,000 or more
28.6
117
Source: Comscore US data, All Locations, Sports Category, Aug 2008 – Aug 2009
No to be forgotten is women’s viewing of online sports content. Women represent more than 44% of the visitors to the sports category. Importantly, however, we see that women age 21 or older with household income above $75,000 account for 12.8% of the online population in August 2009, but represent 16.3% of visitors to the sports site category. Taking a deeper look, you can see that 18.3% of the NHL Network is composed of this coveted demographic.
Women Age 21+ with HHI >$75K
Average In-Season Percent Composition
Total Internet Audience
12.8
Sports Category
16.3
MLB
17.0
NFL
16.6
NBA
13.5
NHL
18.3
To further that point, we looked into the online buying power index (BPI) of women age 18-34 with children in the US. Here are the in-season BPIs for the professional sports leagues, showing that each over indexes in the online buying power of moms, with the NHL the clear leader. I guess that’s why there is so much fuss about “hockey moms” and the buying power they represent.
Women Age 18-34 with Children
Sports League
BPI
166
224
259
160
Being from Canada, one might think we eat, sleep and drink hockey….but, truth be told, we’re just sports crazy.