Ever-increasing globalisation, digitalisation, and commercialisation have expanded sports fandom beyond its traditional terrains. Sports teams now enjoy worldwide support from highly engaged audiences, who seize extra chances to connect with their teams. This creates an appealing target audience for streaming services, who look to capitalise on the limitations of traditional broadcasters, such as geographical boundaries and licensing agreements.
Streaming platforms seek to engage fans beyond live broadcasts by offering sports lifestyle content, such as documentaries. Netflix’s ‘Drive to Survive’ demonstrates how this content can expand fanbases, with a female viewership of 46%, despite 70% of regular F1 fans being male. By tapping into an already highly engaged audience, streaming services have successfully appealed to wider demographics in an ever-evolving fandom.
Sport remains one of the few reliable sources of televised entertainment that regularly draws large audiences. Although broadcast TV is still the most popular channel for sports in the UK, there’s been a notable shift towards streaming, with SVOD penetration more than tripling between 2015 and 2023. This adoption reflects global changes in consumer habits, where sports compete with other forms of entertainment.
Younger viewers follow more sports than their older counterparts but with a heavy preference towards streaming and mobile experiences. Fans aged 25-34 are the most digitally savvy, making up the highest portion of SVOD subscribers (39%). Meanwhile, less than 50% of 16-24-year-olds now watch linear TV in a typical week and also consume the most VOD content. The Global Sports Media Report shows that 34% of 18-24-year-olds watch game highlights, compared with just 30% watching full games (28% do both). This behaviour reflects the younger generation’s preference for short-form content.
According to Nielsen and LaLiga Tech, 41% of global sports fans already watch some sporting events via OTT platforms, with 47% using both TV and streaming services simultaneously. This suggests that streaming (highlights or otherwise) has created additional windows for consuming sports, rather than replacing traditional channels.
As the industry matures, platforms and broadcasters will need to adapt to the fluidity of today's sports fans. The rise of streaming, driven by high-end drama, is now complemented by lifestyle content and cross-platform bundle deals, such as Disney+ with ESPN and Discovery+ with TNT Sports.
With the Six Nations TV deal expiring in 2025 and the government rejecting calls to protect it for free-to-air TV, rugby could be the next sport poised for expansion. Following the success of Netflix’s ‘Full Contact’ documentary and Amazon Prime’s broadcast of the 2022 Autumn Internationals, it remains to be seen whether streaming can replicate this success or if TV will retain its dominance in live broadcasting.
