Snowboarding Size of Market-2010-11, from Label Networks’ Action Sports Report

When it comes to action sports, one of the top sports that 13-25-year-olds in North America most want to learn is snowboarding. However, the size of the marketplace has shifted a great deal, especially in the last 3-5 years including age demographic changes of those that want to learn the sport.

One reason for this is the popularity of icons such as Olympic gold medalist Shaun White, which has contributed to a surge in popularity among younger demographics, particularly 13-14-year-olds, compared with years previous. (The sport used to rank highest among 21-25-year-olds.)

Other changes in the marketplace are that a lower percentage of females now say snowboarding is their favorite sport, dropping from 7.3% last year, to 4.6% this year. However, this should not be confused with the potential size of market: Based on our representative sample of 13-25-year-olds, results taken from our Action Sports Report 2010-11, females still have higher percentages than males that want to learn to snowboard. This has been an on-going trait for several years now, and indicates an opportunity.

Overall, snowboarding ranks 3rd as a sport that youth culture most wants to learn, and peaks among 13-14-year-olds and 21-25-year-olds. However 18-20-year-olds are the age demographic where it spikes among those that say snowboarding is their favorite sport that they actually do. The difference is that older demographics, 21-25-year-olds, used to own this percentage, indicating that snowboarding as a favorite sport that they actually do is moving younger.

If we were to look at the actual size of market, based on our percentages, more males snowboard overall among 13-25-year-olds, however more females want to learn to snowboard.