A new Horowitz Research study revealed that over 4 in 10 (42%) sports viewers over 18 years old would likely subscribe to Venu Sports when it becomes available. As part of a sports streaming bundle, Venu Sports will offer live coverage from ESPN and other linear sports networks in a joint venture between Disney, Fox, and Warner Bros. Discovery. Compared to their older counterparts (23%), younger sports viewers (18-34 and 35-49 year-olds, 58% and 57% respectively) are more than twice as likely to subscribe to the new streaming service. In addition, half of Latine (53%) and Black (50%) sports viewers over-index for likely subscriptions, in comparison to their Asian (40%) and White, non-Hispanic (39%) counterparts.
The Horowitz study also found that the new ESPN live streaming service may impact subscriptions to other services. For instance, among sports viewers who are likely to subscribe, nearly 4 in 10 (38%) say they would make changes to their subscriptions. Canceling their virtual MVPD service is the most mentioned change these viewers would make. Sports viewers indicated that they may also consider canceling some of their other subscription streaming services and MVPD (traditional cable/satellite) service.
“Being able to watch live sports has long been an incentive for sports fans to keep their subscriptions to MVPD and vMVPD services,” noted Adriana Waterston, EVP and Insights & Strategy Lead for Horowitz Research, a division of M/A/R/C Research. “This new service will certainly be a game changer – pun intended – that will further disrupt the media ecosystem and make retention even more of a challenge for all players.”