The perception that Canadians had no interest in the Pan Am Games has been disproven by a new study from IPG Mediabrands.
The study found an estimated 22 million Canadians – approximately 63% of the population – watched at least part of the Games. Viewers were more likely to be families, with 32% having children under 18, and 40% being between the ages of 35-64. Torontonians, meanwhile, comprised an estimated 26% of the audience.
The study revealed 5.5 million people watched the opening ceremony, while 20.7 million people watched event coverage and 6 million people watched the closing ceremony.
The Pan Am Games were also a hit on social media, generating an estimated 345,000 tweets, 280,000 of which were related to the competition (ie: non-ceremony related). Many tweeters were likely to be live-tweeting from an event. Globally, more than 79,000 Instagram pictures were tagged with #TO2015.
Brands also used the Pan Am Games to fuel their Twitter activity, with CBC sending out 37,800 tweets, followed by the Toronto Star (4,900 tweets), the CN Tower (4,700), CIBC (3,500) and Cirque du Soleil (1,400).
The report is based on research and analysis based on Numeris, Sysomos, LeadSift and Toronto2015.org data covering July 7-26.
