What sport Canadians choose to watch can vary depending on factors such as age, wealth, education and where the fan lives
That’s a distinct difference from fans 35-44, for whom 42% prefer hockey, with only 11% focusing on basketball and 14% on soccer. For fans 65 and over, the preference for basketball drops to a mere 2% and soccer to just 11%.
There’s a wealth gap, too. Canadians with an income of $150K or more are more likely to watch hockey over the season (48.1%) compared with Canadians earning between $20K and almost $40K (33.3%).
Basketball viewing increases among Canadians with higher education: 14.4% for watchers with a master’s degree and 9.1 % for Canadians with high school or vocational training. It’s the opposite for hockey: 43.7% among those who have high school or vocational training and 32.6% for those with a master’s degree.
Politically, just slightly more Tories watch hockey than Liberals, but otherwise, sports-watching preferences are similar no matter how the watcher votes.
Sports preferences are clearly split between urban and suburban/rural watchers. In rural areas, 45% prefer hockey, while in the suburbs, that number is 41.8%. In urban areas, the number drops to 34.8%. In comparison, basketball leads in the cities (12.4%) versus the suburbs (8.1%) and rural Canada (2.8%).
Looking at the gap between male and female watchers, hockey and football are more preferred by men: hockey, 45% men to 34% women; football, 23% men to 11% women.
The first puck-drop is soon but on any given day what is showing on a TV could certainly vary depending on who is sitting in front of it.
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