TV wins, but 48% use social to engage more deeply
TORONTO – Two-in-three Canadians (66%) followed at least some of the Toronto Blue Jays’ 2016 playoff run according to the Sports Marketing Report, an independent, syndicated audience research survey from Toronto’s Solutions Research Group.
Audience engagement with the Jays playoff run, which included the sudden-death wild card game win over Baltimore, the three-game sweep of Texas and the team’s eventual loss to Cleveland, was very strong. Half of Canadians – 49% – followed the Jays ‘very’ or ‘somewhat’ closely, seven points higher than the 42% who said the same thing for the World Cup of Hockey in September and just below the 51% level for the Rio Olympics.
“Rogers hit it out of the park with the Jays’ run this fall, not just benefiting as an owner directly but also as an advertiser: almost half, 47%, of those recalling a sponsors or advertiser named Rogers on an unaided basis, significantly above SRG’s norms for unaided advertiser awareness for major sporting events,” says the study.
Rounding out the top five advertisers named next to Rogers were, in order: Coca Cola, Honda, TD Canada Trust and Budweiser. Honda and TD were in the top five in the 2015 playoff run as well, while Coca Cola was outside of the top five at that time. Additional advertiser brands noticed and reported by respondents (ranked sixth to tenth) this year also included: Tim Hortons, Canadian Tire, Expedia, Labatt and RBC.
Among other notable findings of the research:
- TV led in terms of media, with 79% of those following the playoffs watching on TV and 48% using a digital/social platform – including web in general or connecting with the team or players on social media such as Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.
- For every five TV viewers catching the action on traditional TV, there was one person streaming at least part of a game. 18-34-year-olds were three times more likely to stream compared to 50+ fans.
- Overall audience composition of those following very or somewhat closely was 58% male and 42% female; 25% were in the 18-34 age group, 36% were 35-49 and 39% were 50+.
- 83% of those streaming the games were in the 18-49 demographic, compared to 61% of the overall audience, illustrating the strong appeal of streaming pro sports to a younger demographic.
This release is part of a series of reports under SRG’s Sports Marketing Report banner. Blue Jays 2016 Playoff Run results are based on 400 interviews nationally, with results potentially accurate to plus or minus 4.9 points. Sports Marketing Report was launched by SRG in 2015 and consists of a series of independent syndicated research studies providing an objective and comparative perspective on sports event audiences and sponsors’ return on investment for sports events. Sports Marketing Report is not affiliated with any sports organization or sponsor.
