With no sports this playoff season, marketers are asking how to reach that male audience. UM’s Deena Markus, Director of Media Investments, sees an upwards trend in primetime linear TV, marking a return to old habits for male audiences.

“Though the current cancelation of sports creates a large gap in reaching males in Canada, the implementation of social distancing has sparked an increase in linear TV viewership among men. Prior to this, we had seen year-over-year decreases in linear TV (outside of sports) for this audience, so spikes in primetime shows like Survivor and The Masked Singer mark a return to old habits for male audiences.

While some male-skewing programs like late-night talk shows were originally cancelled amidst COVID-19 concerns, shows are now starting to piece together full episodes shot remotely with new content. It will be interesting to see how these programs evolve their programming to accommodate our current reality.

To no surprise, news and daytime programming is seeing major uplifts of 20% with males. Other social distancing-friendly activities include Amazon’s Twitch, music streaming, and podcast downloads – this is a promising avenue for brands looking to regain reach with Canadian male audiences during this lull in sports content.”

Read the full article in CARDonline here.