With just weeks until opening day at top resorts, ski enthusiasts across the United States are gearing up for the 2026-27 winter season, and some savvy brands are taking to JCDecaux’s airport advertising networks to increase their foothold during the upcoming ski season.
Are Winter Sports Enthusiasts a Key Audience for Advertisers?
Skiing and snowboarding are some of the most popular outdoors activities in the nation- with a combined participation of nearly 23 million individuals during the 2024/25 season- over a third as popular as hiking, the most accessible and popular outdoor activity. These skiers and snowboarders are also heading to the mountain more than ever before, hitting the slopes an average of 7.3 days for skiers and 8.6 days for boarders.
Beyond rising attendance at the slopes, this demographic is also alluring based on their access to disposable income. According to the National Sporting Goods Association, alpine skiers represent the sports/activity group with the highest median income. At a household income of $114,000, alpine skiing beats out the second highest group- golfers- by $29,000 a year.
How Can Brands Reach Skiers and Snowboarders?
While participation is growing, the audience for winter sports brands is still a niche audience- meaning that brands targeting these consumers can’t pass up opportunities to catch face time. Ikon Pass, a unique access pass allowing winter sports participants season-long access to 70+ mountains across the world, knows that one of the best ways to reach the American skier is at the point of entry to the nation’s most popular resorts.
Denver International Airport (DEN) is centrally located in one of the United States’ key mountain ranges- the Rocky Mountain / Central Alpine region, whose ski resorts represent more than 1/5th of the nation’s ski activity. Data from Placer.ai confirms DEN’s position as the gateway to these mountains: 62% of visitors to the 11 ski resorts in the vicinity also visited the airport. Activating across the full airport network of digital screens throughout DEN guarantees that Ikon Pass has the peak position to reach their most valuable audience.
Is Colorado the Only Place to Reach these Consumers?
JCDecaux Airports provides coverage in all three of the nation’s core mountainous regions: DEN in the Central Alpine region, Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) in the Western Alpine region, and Boston Logan International Airport (BOS) in the Eastern Alpine area.
Mammoth Lakes, a resort located at the highest summit in California, is maximizing their reach with American skiers by activating an airport-wide digital campaign at BOS.
One of the busiest cities in the Eastern Alpine region, Boston has a vibrant community of ski enthusiasts; Boston Ski and Sports Club, the premier club serving this community, has over fifty thousand active participants each year. As the primary gateway to this market, BOS is guaranteed to capture traffic from dedicated skiers and snowboarders as they head to top tier mountains in the Northeast- and beyond.
More Ways to Reach Elite Skiers and Winter Events
Within this affluent audience resides an even more elusive, high-net worth consumer. For the ultra-wealthy, skiing is a lifestyle more than a sport. For example, Aspen, one of the most popular and elite resort destinations in the nation, has one of the world’s highest concentrations of billionaires and has an average asking price for homes well into the multi-million-dollar range.
JCDecaux coverage of the winter ski season extends to accessing this key audience. Our private aviation media network includes digital and static coverage at four private aviation terminals near the region’s top resorts- including Aspen, Vail, Telluride, Steamboat Springs, and more.
This January will bring an even higher audience than usual to the mountain region, with the Winter X games taking place at Buttermilk Falls, Aspen in January 2027. In 2026, the event saw record attendance, drawing over 43 thousand resort visits- over four times the average weekly traffic. With an audience even more skewed to higher-income fans- the most represented income demographic range falls between $200-$250K annually- our media coverage of private and commercial aviation in the Colorado area is an unmissable opportunity for brands in the winter sports space.