A new Parks Associates and InterDigital survey shows the huge appetite for sports content on streaming services. It explores the technical and business challenges of streaming live sports. According to the survey, 33% of U.S. households with internet access subscribe to a direct-to-consumer (D2C) streaming service specific to sports. D2C sports service viewers pay on average $111 a month on all streaming subscriptions.
How U.S. viewers watch sports
To break the results down, 40% of sports viewers watch sports exclusively on streaming platforms, and 30% watch via live streaming platforms and traditional linear TV. Only 19% view sports exclusively via traditional broadcast networks, satellite, or cable.
Until recently, customers usually needed a pay-tv package to access big sporting events. Traditional media companies are quick to argue that cable and satellite offer more reliable delivery than streaming. However, with technology companies buying sports rights and traditional broadcasters like ESPN and Fox launching streaming services, the landscape is changing rapidly.
One of the ways in which sports fans like to engage with sports today is by placing bets. With the legalization of US sports betting, they can easily gamble online, and in-game betting is particularly popular.
New opportunities to engage
With the transition from traditional broadcast and cable networks to streaming, sports fans have new opportunities to engage. Sports audiences are expanding as sports viewers gain access to more sports than ever before. They can even watch niche sports that were previously unavailable to watch.
There is also far more demand for access to athletes. With a new emphasis on fitness and body movements, viewers want opportunities to see how athletes prepare for matches and much more. Live chat provides them with interactive experiences, and they can follow athletes on social media.
New revenue opportunities
Some of the benefits of sports leagues shifting to streaming deals include more digital reach, greater control, and new revenue streams. However, the transition is often more complex than expected.
In the US, ESPN opted out of a $550 million a year deal with the MLB due to underperformance.
The NFL has an exclusive streaming deal with Amazon Prime for its Thursday Night Football, but it has drawn criticism as yet another platform NFL fans must subscribe to. For a league like the NFL, streaming services do present an opportunity to reach younger audiences.
Major League Soccer signed a 10-year, 2.5 billion streaming deal with Apple TV, but detractors highlight the high pricing and criticize Apple’s approach.
One of the downsides of all the streaming services getting into sports is that sports lovers are likely to have to pay for more than one subscription. Fans can become very frustrated when they can’t watch a certain game because they don’t subscribe to a certain streaming platform.
Technical challenges
Sports streaming services face various technical challenges. Some of these include bandwidth limitations, latency, and buffering. Buffering issues and glitches can take away from the production values and spectacle of an event.
Scalability and device/platform compatibility are other challenges. Sports fans won’t tolerate a poor experience when trying to access content. With traditional sports moving to digital platforms, it can be hard to maintain the communal experiences that made them into the cultural phenomenon they are today.
A cultural phenomenon
A PMG survey finds that sports fandom in the US is increasingly communal, and more than half of US adults watch sports in some capacity at least once a week. Modern sports are a cultural phenomenon with fans connecting before, during, and after games.
Gen Z has a communal focus, and values shared experiences over traditional loyalties. They expect interactivity, shareability, and instant access without any platform confusion.
In the future, sports leagues will need to increasingly focus on digital-first engagement strategies. They will need to base these strategies on the expectations of new generations of sports fans.