Rascasse Audience Intelligence

NHL Audience in Canada

A data profile of the people who buy, follow and care about NHL in Canada — modelled from more than twelve digital signal sources. NHL has an estimated audience of 13,828,437 people in Canada.

#3among Ice hockey in Canada#3among Event in Canada#11in Sports

The average NHL fan in Canada is 38.2 years old, more male, and lives primarily in Ontario.

The audience is concentrated in Ontario, Quebec, British Columbia.

Top brand affinities include Tim Horton, Toronto Blue Jays, Toronto Maple Leafs, with strongest over-indexing on Tim Horton (1.98× the country average).

Demographically, the NHL audience skews more male with an average age of 38.2, and over-indexes on personality traits such as Family Orientation, Need for Security.

Compared to the country baseline, this audience shows distinctive patterns across 20 brand affinities and 10 regions tracked by Rascasse.

The typical NHL fan in Canada is more male, around 38.2 years old, with strong Family Orientation tendencies and a notable affinity for Tim Horton.

Category: Sports · Type: Event · Subtype: Ice hockey

The data on this page comes from the Rascasse audience panel and is refreshed monthly from search, social and browsing signals. As of 2026-08-10.

Section 01

At a glance

The key figures that characterise the NHL profile in Canada.

Audience size
13.8M
in Canada
Gender
41.6%♀
58.4% male
Age
38.2
average years
Country rank
#58
Event in Canada
Fig. 01

Search interest · 12-month trend

-2%
vs. last year
JanMarMayJulSepNov
Monthly searches · Source: Rascasse Audience Intelligence
Section 02

Demographics of NHL fans

41.6% are female, 58.4% are male, average age 38.2.

Fig. 02

Gender split

41.6%
Female
58.4%
Male
Demographic split for NHL audience in Canada
MetricValue
Female41.6%
Male58.4%
Average age38.2
Estimated audience size13,828,437
Fig. 03

Age distribution

Ø 38.2
average years
Age distribution of the NHL audience in Canada
Age bracketShare%
16-1923%
20-2921%
30-3919%
40-4919%
50+19%
Fig. 04

Worldwide distribution

19.6%

of the worldwide NHL audience comes from Canada.

Worldwide audience distribution share by country for NHL
CountryShare
United States42.5%
Canada19.6%
Japan2.8%
Section 03
Affinity (×) = how much more likely a member of this audience is to live in a region than the Canada average. Example: 2.0× means twice as concentrated as the national baseline.

Geography

Where the NHL audience in Canada is strongest.

Fig. 05

Top regions by affinity

NHL fans by region: top regions in Canada
#RegionReachAffinity×
01Alberta~2.5M1.46×
02British Columbia~3M1.40×
03Manitoba~600K1.19×
04Saskatchewan~400K0.99×
05Ontario~5.5M0.94×
06Quebec~3M0.88×
07Nova Scotia~400K0.87×
08New Brunswick~300K0.84×
09Newfoundland and Labrador~200K0.80×
10Prince Edward Island~40K0.64×
Section 04
Brands and entities this audience over-indexes on, vs. the country average.

Audience interests & affinities

The strongest cross-interests of the NHL audience — brands, topics and people combined.

Fig. 07

Top cross-interests, ranked by affinity

Top brand affinities (over-index vs. country average) for NHL audience
#·InterestCategoryAffinity×
01Buffalo SabresSports2.81×
02San Jose SharksSports2.77×
03Detroit Red WingsSports2.66×
04Carolina HurricanesSports2.66×
05Colorado AvalancheSports2.65×
06Vegas Golden KnightsSports2.61×
07Auston MatthewsSports2.26×
08Connor McDavidSports2.24×
09Stanley CupSports2.19×
10Sidney CrosbySports2.16×
11The Open ChampionshipSports2.15×
12Stanley Cup playoffsSports2.10×
13Tim HortonSports1.98×
14Toronto Maple LeafsSports1.79×
15Edmonton OilersSports1.79×
16Winnipeg JetsSports1.79×
17Ottawa SenatorsSports1.75×
18SportsnetSports1.65×
19Toronto Blue JaysSports1.56×
20Vancouver CanucksSports1.54×
Section 05
Top six personality traits over-indexed by this audience (1.0 = country average).

Personality of the NHL audience

Values above 1.00× are above the country average, values below 1.00× below it.

Fig. 08

Deviation from the national baseline

↑ What stands out
The strongest tendencies
Top personality traits over-indexed by NHL audience · What stands out
TraitClusterDeviationScore
Family OrientationCONSERVATISM1.09×
Need for SecurityCONSERVATISM1.05×
Sports ActivityPOWER0.97×
0×1.00× baseline2×
↓ Rather not
The weakest tendencies
Top personality traits over-indexed by NHL audience · Rather not
TraitClusterDeviationScore
Design AffinityPREMIUM0.73×
CreativityOPEN0.74×
Urban LifestyleOPEN0.74×
0×1.00× baseline2×
Section 06

Frequently asked questions

01

How many fans does NHL have in Canada?

NHL has an estimated audience of 13,828,437 people in Canada, concentrated in Ontario and Quebec.

02

What is the gender split and age of NHL fans?

41.6% of NHL fans are female, 58.4% are male, with an average age of 38.2 years.

03

Which brands do NHL fans like most?

NHL fans show strongest brand affinity for Tim Horton (1.98×), Toronto Blue Jays (1.56×), and Toronto Maple Leafs (1.79×) over the country average.

04

Where do NHL fans live in Canada?

NHL fans in Canada are most concentrated in Ontario (reach ~5.5M), Quebec (reach ~3M), and British Columbia (reach ~3M). These three regions account for the largest share of the active audience.

05

What other brands do NHL fans also like?

Beyond NHL itself, the audience over-indexes on Toronto Blue Jays (1.56×), Toronto Maple Leafs (1.79×), Sportsnet (1.65×), and Edmonton Oilers (1.79×) compared to the Canada average.

Appendix

Explore more audiences

Related profiles, rankings and the same audience in other markets.

More Ice hockey audiences in Canada

See NHL audiences in other countries

How to read this data

Audience size is the estimated number of people in Canada who actively search for NHL. Affinity is an over-index ratio: 2.0× means the audience is twice as likely to engage with that brand or trait as the country average. Reach is the estimated number of audience members in a region. Regional and brand-affinity tables are sorted from strongest signal to weakest.

About this audience profile

This audience profile is generated by Rascasse from anonymized search-behavior signals across Canada. For methodology see methodology. Affinity values are over-index ratios vs. the country average (1.0 = baseline). Audience sizes are estimated, not measured.

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