Label Networks’ Topline Chart from Skateboarding, Snowboarding, Skiing Profile Report
With winter on it’s way and forecasts of what may happen within the skiing and snowboarding industries in a Olympic year under question, we decided to take a look at data from our annual Skateboarding, Snowboarding, and Skiing Profile Report and specially target what it would take to get more young people involved in skateboarding vs. snowboarding and where the crossover lies for both sports (which are seasonal for many people).
For this story, we’ve revealed the topline research results to the question, “Which would influence you most towards getting you to Skateboard?” and the by gender results for the same question about snowboarding. Results are based on a representative sample of more than 6,200 13-25-year-olds from across North America. This includes both skaters and non-skaters, snowboarders and non-snowboarders. By taking a look at the greater marketplace, you can see the potential of how a sport may increase in participation numbers based on those interested in the sport, but who may not yet be involved. And for snowboarding, the misperceptions are quite interesting.
Overall, when it comes to skateboarding, the greatest influence towards getting 13-25-year-olds in North America into the sport is If I had someone to teach me at 27%. This indicates great potential for the sport simply through organizing or promoting more clinics, camps, skatepark instruction, and other ways of teaching young people the sport. This is followed by 20.1% that say If it were easier to learn, followed by 12.8% that say I already do skateboard.
In comparison, the same question about snowboarding reveals 25.7% overall say that Easier and cheaper access to snowboarding resorts is the #1 influence that would get them started snowboarding. While costs and accessibility have always been a key issue and continues to be addressed by the snowboarding and skiing industries, winter sports carry with it the weight of limited access due to location and high costs. This mainly comes from the combined costs of lift tickets, rentals, and the perception that it simply costs too much even though many young people don’t really know how much it costs to ride for the day. (To compare, in 2006 the average price that 13-25-year-olds were willing to pay for an entire package including lift tickets, rentals, and bus transport was $100USD; in 2008-09 is was $120). After this top reason, 15.7% say If I had someone to teach me, which indicates a strong market opportunity for clinics, camps, ski/snowboard lessons towards increasing participation. It also indicates the great importance of first-time lessons and impressions from instructors, rental operations, and other first-time experiences for new participants towards keeping then involved with the sports over time.
For many young people, especially people from more urban environments, going to the “mountains” can be intimidating already. There are many misperceptions when it comes to so-called “mountain sports” which we actually addressed in a presentation we conducted for the Outdoor Retailer Summit 3 years ago. We have had many young people talk about their fear of heights or cliffs and asking about the possibility of danger being in steep places -basically indicating the need for some very fundamental introductions to the outdoors and mountains in general (which is something ski resorts and tourist operations concentrate on heavily in Beijing, China, with introductory pamphlets and flyers to get people to come to the surrounding ski resorts in general). Ironically, many of the backcountry or heli ski and snowboarding ads do nothing to drive new riders and skiers to the mountains but instead, intimidate them even more -especially people who have a very limited experience with even being outdoors in general.
On the flipside, so-called “family” ads in many cases don’t resonate either because of the people portrayed which many young people can’t relate to or simply think is too unrealistic to believe. As youth culture continues to become more diverse ethnically, this is another important issue to point out when it comes to advertising and marketing this new generation of potential snowboarders and skiers -which is something that skateboarding has already overcome simply by the diverse natural already of people who skate.
Label Networks’ by Gender Chart for Snowboarding from Skateboarding, Snowboarding, Skiing Profile Report
Interestingly however, as we mentioned last week in the story on The Decline of the Action Sports Lifestyle, 14.5% say Nothing would influence me to start snowboarding, which is higher than skateboarding but lower than skiing. 13% say I already do it, which is where one can figure out the size of market of snowboarding among 13-25-year-olds. Other aspects to note are that 8.3% say If I had someone to go with, which also indicates an opportunity for increasing snowboarding participation via connecting those interested in riding with others.
In comparison, with skateboarding, 12.1% say Nothing would influence me to start, which has increased in percentages of those saying they’re just not into skateboarding. Another interesting trait is that 10.3% say If I had someone to go with followed by 6.5% that say If I had somewhere to skate. Both of these results, especially by gender and age groups, quantify the need for people interested in skating to “find each other” and for places like skateparks or street skating locations to be made available to youth culture in North America. This information would be very useful for those interested in creating skating programs and skate parks as it quantifies the potential increase in the sport if these aspects were addressed.
By gender, the most notable characteristic is that 31.3% of females say they would skateboard If I had someone to teach me, which is the #1 reason for this demographic and marks an excellent opportunity for increasing participation levels. In comparison 12.1% of males say this. The #1 result for males at 19.4% is I already do it, which indicates a strong marketplace of skaters among 13-25-year-olds males already. However 10.9% of females skate already too, which is also a strong segment of participants. Other traits that are high for both genders are If it were easier to learn and If I had someone to go with. Males also are more influenced by peers with 4.9% saying If there were more people like me skateboarding compared with 2.9% of females.
By age groups, If I had someone to teach me is high across the board for skateboarding, but peaks among 15-17-year-olds at 28.1%. Generally, older demographics are least likely to get started, whereas results such as If I had someone to go with and If I had somewhere to skate are higher among younger demographics.
For snowboarding by gender, the most important difference is that 17.2% of females say if I had someone to teach me compared with 10.7% of males. This quantifies the need and market opportunity for women’s camps, clinics, and lessons in general towards getting would-be riders into the sport. However 12% of females say I already do, along with 16.4% of males. Females also have higher percentages that say If it were easier to learn and If I had someone to go with.
By age groups, Easier and cheaper access to snowboarding resorts is high across the board but peaks among 18-20-year-olds at 28.3%, indicating that this age group is most influenced by these factors. If I had someone to teach me is also relatively high across the board, but peaks among 15-17-year-olds at 16.6% of this age group. What’s interesting to note is that older demographics clearly have higher percentages that are not going to get started snowboarding, indicating that there is greater market opportunity among younger demographics (younger than 21). If I had someone to go with spikes among 13-14-year-olds at 11.3% but coincidentally, also among 21-25-year-olds indicating that solving this factor could increase participation among younger and older demographics.
Overall, when looking at the results by specific demographics and by sports, you can see where certain opportunities lie towards attracting specific audiences particularly in combined efforts effecting both sports such as If I had someone to teach me or someone to go with. Knowing where it makes the most sense is vital for initiating certain market opportunities or connecting with specific demographics by being a part or creating new programs that address influences and barriers to entry into snowboarding and skateboarding.
Overall, the results to these questions quantify just how to involve more people to skateboard and snowboarding with many options and marketing, advertising, and branding opportunities.
For more information about the Skateboarding, Snowboarding, and Skiing Profile Report, email info@labelnetworks.com; (323) 630-4000.
