New research from data insights firm Caddle reveals that 18% of Canadian consumers consume energy drinks. What’s more, nearly one-third of energy drink consumers drink the beverages daily and just over half consume them a few times a week, with exercise and sports usage occasions driving consumption.

Caddle’s data from July also reveals that flavour is the most important factor for consumers, as 41.3% of Canadians use this to decide which energy drink to purchase. Brand is second, with 21.9% of the vote, and is 25% more important for men than women. This is followed by sugar content at 10.4%. The least important draws are natural ingredients (5.5%), hours of energy (4.5%), and athlete endorsement (0.1%).

A similar percentage of males and females consume energy drinks daily or more: 29.9% of males vs. 29.5% of females. However, males over-index on overall consumption, representing 57.1% of buyers.

Gen Zers are 238% more likely to consume energy drinks than Boomers, with only 8% of that demo report consuming energy drinks.

Exercise is the number one energy drink usage occasion at 37.3%; followed by sports at 24.7%; household chores at 20.2%; and studying at 17.1%.

According to Caddle data, 41.2% of males consume energy drinks for exercise in comparison to the 31.5% of females, whilst only 15.5% of men consume energy drinks for household chores compared to 27.2% of women.

Marketers should note that there are opportunities in other usage occasions, with “none of the above” cited by 29% of respondents. For example, Monster, which has been linked to mixed martial arts and extreme sports, is aligning itself with Live Nation for an in-store shopper marketing promo built around the live music experience.

When it comes to market share, Red Bull is the most popular choice, with 52.7% of Canadians choosing the brand to give them wings, while Monster Energy (38.9%) and Rockstar (35.6%) are in the #2 and #3 spots. The data also shows that 19% of consumers report a preference for “other” brands, such as plant-based challenger Guru, which is going after convenience consumers with an extensive campaign to secure more shelf space in that high-growth channel.