Key Points
- Ninety percent of sports fans say it is frustrating to figure out where to watch games across TV and streaming platforms, according to new research.
- Fragmented media rights deals force viewers to navigate multiple apps and subscriptions to follow a single sport or team.
- Fans show strong preference for services that consolidate rights or offer discovery tools that simplify finding live games.
Sports fans have more choices than ever to follow live games and tournaments on broadcast, cable and streaming TV — but that doesn’t mean they have an easier time staying on top of the teams and events they want to follow.
According to a new report released by Hub Entertainment Research on Monday, the various media rights deals between sports leagues and broadcasters are complicating matters for fans rather than making access to games and tournaments easier or more-flexible.
Streaming was thought to offer additional options for sports fans who long felt aggrieved by high cable prices. But, over time, sports leagues like the National Football League (NFL), Major League Baseball (MLB) and the National Basketball Association (NBA) have entered into exclusive deals that make certain games available on subscription streaming platforms, where before most games were offered on broadcast and cable TV.
The end result is sports fans feel they have to switch across different apps and subscribe to multiple services simply to track the action of their favorite sport or team all season long.
Hub’s latest installment of its ongoing “Evolution of Sports: What’s the Score?” study found that as sports rights are divided among broadcast networks, cable channels and streaming services, many viewers say the process of simply finding a game has become a major source of frustration.
Nearly 90 percent of respondents said it is at least somewhat frustrating to figure out where to watch the sports they follow today, with nearly one-quarter saying the experience is “very frustrating.”
The fragmentation of rights has accelerated in recent years as leagues and media companies pursue broader distribution strategies that include both traditional television and direct-to-consumer streaming platforms. While the strategy has expanded overall availability, it has also created a more complicated viewing environment for consumers.
Some companies have responded by developing discovery tools designed to help fans navigate the fragmented ecosystem. Hub’s survey tested two such features and found that many viewers see them as helpful.
Seventy percent of sports fans said ESPN’s “Where to Watch” feature, which tells viewers where a game is available even if it is not carried on ESPN, makes their sports viewing experience easier. Similarly, 60 percent said Roku’s “Sports Zone,” a feature within the Roku interface that aggregates sports-related content in one place across platforms, improves their experience.
The findings also suggest that fragmentation is increasing the value of platforms that consolidate rights to an entire sport or league: Sixty percent of sports fans said they are more likely to subscribe to a service that carries all the rights to a sport they follow, while 30 percent said they would be “much more likely” to sign up for such a service. Nearly 40 percent of those respondents said they would be much more likely to subscribe to a platform that offers comprehensive rights to a sport they closely follow.
Hub also examined how exclusive rights deals can influence both subscriber acquisition and retention. As part of the survey, the firm asked fans about a new rights agreement involving the Ultimate Fighting Championship that will place all UFC events, including premium fights, across Paramount’s networks and its Paramount Plus streaming service.
Among avid UFC fans, the response was strongly positive. Eighty-nine percent said the deal would make a Paramount Plus subscription more valuable, with about one-third saying it would make the service “extremely” more valuable.
The deal could also improve retention among existing subscribers. Ninety-three percent of avid UFC fans who already subscribe to Paramount Plus said the new arrangement would make them more likely to keep their subscription, including 71 percent who said it would make them “much more likely” to stay.
The rights consolidation may also attract new customers. Among avid UFC fans who do not currently subscribe to Paramount Plus, 72 percent said the new deal would make them more likely to sign up, with nearly one-third saying they would “definitely” subscribe.
Jon Giegengack, Principal at Hub and one of the study’s authors, said the results highlight a growing tension in the sports media marketplace between expanded access and ease of discovery.
“Fans will go to great lengths to watch the sports they care about — but that doesn’t mean they enjoy hunting across multiple apps to find them,” Giegengack said in a statement. “Services that simplify the experience of watching sports — whether through discovery tools or by consolidating rights to an entire sport—are delivering more value to fans. And more value means more satisfied users and lower churn.”
