A new survey from Hub Entertainment Research shows just how much influence live sports has over a consumer’s choice of streaming platform. The analysts suggest that after years of “peak TV,” buzzy, scripted originals are no longer enough to attract and hold subscribers.
Conducted in January, Hub interviewed 3,016 U.S. sports fans age 13 to 74 for its semiannual study, What’s the Score: The Evolution of Sports Media.
“These findings reinforce that sports content will have a big impact on the next stage of the streaming wars, and might entirely settle them,” Hub principal Jon Giegengack said. “There are lots of sports fans, and they care more about the sports they follow than anything else on TV. As expensive as rights have become, they may turn out to be the best investment: hours and hours of unique content which comes with a built-in audience that tunes in every season without fail.”
Key findings include:
80% of sports fans say that during the season, content about their favorite sport is more important than other things they watch on TV. More than one-third (36%) say it’s much more important than other kinds of content.
75% of avid fans indicated that they would be likely to sign up for a new streaming subscription if they needed it to watch a sport they follow.
27% often stay on the same channel to watch the show that comes on after a live game and another 38% do so “occasionally,” helping new shows cut through the clutter to find an audience.
