Sport streaming trends: TV still twice as popular as online

Sep 7, 2017 | Online video

Broadcast TV reigns strong for sports, with digital consumers still watch twice as many sports on TV as they do online, according to new data.

As ‘cord-cutting’ garners more media attention and more opportunities arise to catch up with games online and across social media, Global Web Index looks at whether this is having an impact on sports viewing behaviours.

From its base of over 70,000 internet users between the ages of 16 and 64, GlobalWebIndex asked which sports activities consumers chose to watch on TV and which they chose to watch online. For TV viewing in general, there’s no doubt that on-demand and catch-up services are gaining traction. At present, though, broadcast TV reigns strong for sports: digital consumers still watch twice as many sports on TV as they do online.

The age trends here are quite revealing, however. 25-34s watch an average of almost 3 sports online, whereas for 55-64s the equivalent figure stands at 1. These older consumers remain the most likely to favour their TV sets for sports viewing.

Across the regions, those in Asia Pacific are watching the most sports on TV or online, though it’s for the latter that they really stand out. But the overarching story here is that internet users across all the regions are notably more likely to be watching on their TV sets than online.

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