Discover Boating Health Score Index: September Insights on Consumer Interest and Engagement

As another busy boating season comes to a close, the Discover Boating Health Score Index (HSI) continues to provide insights into consumer momentum and Discover Boating's performance in reaching new audiences, building interest in boating and inspiring more people to get on the water.

September's HSI rose to 86%, up 12 points from August, reflecting improved consumer momentum. While the score remains seven points below September 2025, several key indicators point to continued interest in boating.

Key takeaways from September's HSI:

• Audience reach continues to grow. Discover Boating's target audience reach improved for the seventh consecutive month, demonstrating stronger progress in connecting with priority boating prospects.
• Boating visibility and participation remain strong. Market visibility continued to outperform the benchmark, while on-water participation remained elevated, signaling continued boating activity as the season wound down.
• Consumer search interest rebounded. Boating-related search activity improved 17 points from August, although it remains below benchmark.
• Digital engagement softened as paid media concluded. With Discover Boating's fiscal year 2026 paid media campaign ending in early September, total website users and hand raisers (consumers taking actions that signal interest in exploring boating opportunities) declined compared with prior years.
• Social engagement improved. Increased social media activity, including content surrounding Discover Boating's September Monday Night Football Boatgating event, helped drive stronger engagement compared with August and the benchmark.
• Boat show attendance declined. Attendance fell three points, largely due to severe storms that forced the Norwalk Boat Show to close on Saturday and Sunday.

Why This Matters for Your Business

Discover Boating focuses on getting more people interested in boating. That includes rentals, clubs, shared ownership and ultimately boat purchases. Reaching new audiences and acquiring new customers at scale is one of the costliest challenges for any business, which is why the industry pools its resources to do it together through Discover Boating--something no single company can do on its own. As Discover Boating works to get more people interested in boating, these people become "hand raisers." Hand raisers have the potential to become new customers, so OEMs, dealers, clubs and rental operators aren't left competing for the same buyers over and over. Over time, this makes customer acquisition more efficient and more affordable across the industry.

View the September Dashboard

HSI Dashboard and Resources

Members can access the full September HSI Dashboard, FAQs and introductory HSI webinar series HERE. For questions about the HSI, contact Maggie Maskery at [email protected].