Live events, particularly sports, are returning to pre-COVID-19 norms and will strengthen further, according to new research.

Insight firm IMI’s Next Wave: Live Will Thrive report, a survey of 5,400 Canadians, reveals that the percentage of respondents desiring to engage with one or more sporting events is 5% higher in April 2024 compared with May 2020 numbers.

Meanwhile, the percentage of respondents wanting to engage with one or more music lifestyle or entertainment experience, is up 1% from April 2020 levels. Engaging with causes, meanwhile, is down 1%.

People’s desire to go out, as reflected in the numbers, “are as strong as they’ve ever been,” IMI notes.

The insights firm did 30 tracking studies, 1.75 million interviews, spanning more than 50 countries including Canada and the U.S., between February 2020 and April 2024.

People are coveting getting out and experiencing life, IMI notes, reflected in sentiment about being “excited” by live experiences.

April 2024 figures show the percentage of respondents “excited” by one or more sporting-related events is 63%. That’s followed by lifestyle and entertainment (59%), music (52%), and supporting causes (49%), according to SponsorPulse data, which measures sentiment about hundreds of different kinds of activations in Canada.

Canadians engage with 111 properties annually, but only 30 of these are deemed “exciting,” and IMI recommends that brands create events that are both welcoming and exciting.

The top five properties engaged in Canada are the NHL (58%), the NHL’s Stanley Cup Final (54%), Disney (53%), the Winter Olympic Games (51%) and Hockey Night in Canada (50%).

For those born outside of Canada, the top five are FIFA (58%), CTV News (56%), Disney (55%), Winter Olympic Games (55%) and NBA (53%).

Younger Canadians, aged 13 to 18, prefer Disney (64%), the NHL (60%), Marvel (58%), the NHL’s Stanley Cup Final (56%) and the Summer Olympic Games (56%).

Whatever the experience, as IMI notes, live events provide brands the content and opportunity to elevate involvement and create memories for people.

The IMI numbers reveal that, for example, 90% of respondents are “open to being invited to see a product,” while 83% are “open to being approached” by a brand.

A caveat, however is that marketers need to be mindful that 45% of Canadians “don’t do things they want to, due to social anxiety,” and that this number is 60% for Gen Z Canadians, compared with only 38% for Gen Z and 31% for Boomers.

IMI also notes that 47% of people at live events also suffer from social anxiety.

Finally, there are numerous stressors that affect people’s day-to-day lives that impact experiential engagement. For example, out of about 2,500 Canadians surveyed, 59% reported trouble sleeping one more more times in the past 12 months, while 44% worried about their kids and 41% reported feeling depressed.