TORONTO – The strong performances of Canadian athletes at the Rio Olympics combined with website streaming options and a favourable time zone helped to generate very strong audiences for sponsors and advertisers on TV, digital and social channels, according to a new survey released Wednesday.
Solution Research Group’s Sports Marketing Report – Rio Olympics Edition found that eight-in-ten Canadians (79%) nationally said they followed "at least some" of the Olympics on TV or via online or mobile sources, higher than London in 2012 (76%), Beijing in 2008 (74%), and last summer’s Pan Am Games (60%) and the 50% who said they followed at least some of FIFA Women’s World Cup.
Audience engagement with Rio was also higher: the proportion saying they followed it ‘somewhat’ or ‘very closely’ was 51% for Rio, a level also higher than the 2012 and 2008 Olympics and as well last summer’s events.
VISA, Coca-Cola, RBC, McDonald’s and Bell were the five top sponsors/advertisers in unaided recall for the 2016 Rio Olympics, says SRG. In particular, one-in-three (32%) of those following the games said they noticed VISA on an unaided basis.
Canadian brands fared well in terms of share of voice: five of the top 10 advertisers/sponsors mentioned were Canadian brands (RBC, Bell, Canadian Tire, Petro Canada and Tim Horton’s). In comparison, only four of the Top 10 sponsors/advertiser mentions for Pan Am Games were Canadian and only 1 Canadian brand made it to the FIFA World Cup sponsors/advertisers mentions last summer.
TV was king for the Olympics (which aired in Canada mainly on CBC, with substantial assists from TSN and Sportsnet, although NBC's coverage is also easily available here) on a total audience basis (12+) with 86% of those who followed the event using it, compared to 52% following via digital/social channels. Interesting variations include:
- In the Millennial 18-34 demo, TV and social/digital channels were nearly head-to-head in terms of how the audience followed the action: 74% used TV while social/digital channels were used by 71%;
- On the other extreme, Boomers 50-plus didn’t care much about social/digital channels and were all over TV: 34% used social/digital channels to follow while 95% used TV;
- Social/digital channels took a commanding lead among TV cord-cutters: they were used by 81% compared to 62% following via traditional TV (e.g. either in home via CBC OTA or in public places).
- One-in-four (23%) used at least one social media channel to connect with athletes or teams: 14% of those following the games connected with teams/athletes on Facebook, followed by Twitter (8%), Instagram (6%) and Snapchat (3%).
- New Canadians were avid followers of the Olympics with 84% following at least some of the action (higher than the national average of 79%).
- The top 10 sports followed in order were: swimming, track & field, gymnastics, diving, soccer, beach volleyball, volleyball, basketball, tennis and rowing.
CBC received a stellar grade on the overall job they did, averaging an ‘A’. The survey found that 59% of those following the games gave the CBC an ‘A+’ or an ‘A’ while 20% gave it a ‘B+’. This was better than SRG’s 2008 benchmark, the last time that CBC was the national broadcaster for the Summer Olympics, when 51% gave the broadcaster an ‘A+’ or an ‘A’.
SRG’s Sports Marketing Report – Rio Olympics Edition is based on interviews with 1,000 Canadians nationally. Respondents who followed the Rio Olympics very/somewhat closely were asked which sponsors/advertisers they noticed on TV, online or mobile for each on an unprompted, unaided basis. The responses were used to determine the unaided recall rankings.
