The latest research from Solutions Research Group (SRG) shows that the number one media activity among university and college students is the use of social media, with nine-in-10 reporting using it in the past week.
To understand the habits, preferences, and choices of students, SRG conducted a total of 2,931 interviews in partnership with 55Rush. Instagram is the most popular social platform used by his group, with 82% using it “within the last week” followed by YouTube at 78% and Facebook at 63%. Less popular are Snapchat, used by 57%, and TikTok, reaching 49%. X (formerly Twitter) doesn’t have strong appeal for this group with only 25% reporting that they’ve used it in the past seven days.
It’s no surprise that streaming and gaming are also popular activities for college and university students. Three-quarters (76%) of this digital-first generation report streaming weekly from at least one paid SVOD service – 63% streamed from Netflix, followed by Disney+ (39%), Prime Video (35%) and Crave (12%).
When it comes to gaming, students play on both mobile devices and consoles. Half play on their mobile devices weekly (48%). For mobile gaming, males and females participate equally although console gaming skews more male at 32% compared to 15% among female students.
It also turns out that traditional TV is still alive with this crowd: 38% of respondents said they watch CTV, Global, CBC, TSN or Discovery. Slightly more males watched TV (41%) compared to females (37%), likely because of sports. In addition, use of traditional TV brands were higher among students in Quebec (44%) compared to the rest of Canada (36%).
The top five traditional TV brands watched among students nationally were Sportsnet, TSN, CBC, CTV and Global. In Quebec, TVA, Radio-Canada and RDS were the top traditional brands. Traditional radio and audio were also consumed by students. One-in-four students reported listening to AM/FM radio (27%) and the same amount say they stream or download podcasts (27%). Female students are more likely to listen to audio content from these sources on a weekly basis.
SRG also asked students about their sports-watching preferences. Sixty-one per cent said they follow at least one team but 39% do not. The NHL has the highest league following (25%), followed by the NBA (17%) and NFL (12%). MLB is followed by 9% of students and UFC and F1 racing are followed by 8%, each. The NHL and NBA were tied for popularity in Ontario at 23% each where over 40% of all college and university students in Canada are located. FIFA World Cup was almost as popular as NHL hockey among students with 23% following it last year. The top three e-sports brands followed by students are League of Legends (17%), Valorant (15%) and Overwatch (7%).
But parents can also take heart, because when not online, students reported participating in sports and other physical activities. The majority (85%) say they participated in sports in the past year with gym workouts in the top spot followed by swimming, running, and yoga.
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