USA: More than half of sports fan prefer streaming over network TV

The latest report from Hub Entertainment Research revealed sports fans are open to more sports and games becoming available on streaming platforms. They assume that, in general, traditional broadcast or cable networks can deliver sports better than individual streaming brands.

Hub showed sports fans a list of nine options – “regular” cable and broadcast TV networks, plus eight major streaming platforms – and asked which would do the best job of covering sports. A quarter (24%) of respondents said network TV would do the best job of delivering sports – more than twice as high as Amazon Prime (11%) and about 3x higher than brands like Hulu or Netflix. However, as a category, almost twice as many chose a streaming platform (59%) as those who chose network TV (24%) – a testament to the brand equity streaming platforms have built with their scripted TV experience.

37% of avid sports fans said they “regularly” experience at least one of a list of technical issues while streaming sports – from buffering to app crashes, to a lag between the streaming TV game feed and the network broadcast. But, those issues do not seem to have impacted their perception of streaming sports overall - at least not yet. 3 in 4 fans who experience glitches while streaming still say they’re excited about having more sports available on streaming. Statistically, the enthusiasm is similar among those who do not have technical problems: 68% of them are excited to see more sports on streaming.

However, there are signs of a familiar speed bump in the TV streaming experience. Just as with scripted TV content, fragmentation creates the potential for a more clunky viewing experience. 69% of avid sports fans think it is a hassle to use multiple providers to watch the same sport. Almost 59% say it’s gotten more difficult to find the sports they want to watch. Notably, both have grown directionally in the six months since the first wave of this survey.

“The reputation streaming brands have built delivering scripted TV has earned them goodwill when it comes to sports,” said Jon Giegengack, principal at Hub and one of the study’s authors. “But that goodwill doesn’t come without strings attached: network TV still benefits from the inertia of familiarity, one which individual streamers will need a longer track record to match. Plus, fans are already wary their sports will become more confusing to find – a problem which will be even more frustrating with live sports because it’s critical to find and watch them immediately,” he concluded.