LGBTQ Audiences and Hockey Audiences Have Never Mixed – Until Now.

The hit gay hockey romance series Heated Rivalry has taken the world (and internet) by storm, receiving one of the highest ratings on IMDB and reaching #1 on HBO Max soon after its release. However, this viral buzz is not just around the TV show itself, but also on the convergence of the hockey world and gay culture–something very rarely seen before. 

According to data from Tubular Labs, the top 10 categories of content on YouTube viewed by LGBTQ audiences in the past 6 months include Transgender, Dating & Matchmaking, Social Issues, and TV Comedy. 

• As for Hockey audiences, their most viewed YouTube categories stay in the sports lane, including NHL, Winter Sports, NFL, and American Football–no overlapping categories with LGBTQ audiences.
  • Heated Rivalry sits at the very contrast of both communities’ interests, combining both relationships and sports.
• LGBTQ audiences and hockey audiences have very little overlapping top 10 Youtube creators they watch, with the few shared being Ngamshishi and FitFix–both short-form entertainment creators.
  • LGBTQ audiences seek out creators like Peacock TV and MovieLuxe Shorts (entertainment), while hockey audiences seek out creators like NHL and Peakzmotivation (fitness and sports).
• Viewership of the NHL’s content on YouTube has more than doubled in December YoY, with 29M views in December 2024 and 78.4M views in December 2025.
  • Perhaps the convergence of two cultures is starting to open hockey to wider, more casual audiences.

Heated Rivalry may be creating a pop culture phenomenon as we speak, combining two communities’ algorithms that never really matched before, bringing completely new audiences to the hockey scene. The hockey community and LGBTQ community’s content is separate by default, but Heated Rivalry may just be the bridge needed.