Less Than 40% of Gen Z Watch Live Sports on TV; Streaming Needs to Adapt to Keep Young Consumers Engaged
Less Than 40% of Gen Z Watch Live Sports on TV; Streaming Needs to Adapt to Keep Young Consumers Engaged
The report should serve as a wake-up call to streamers who take younger audiences for granted, especially as they continue to add live sports.
Could an avalanche of new sports deals for streaming platforms be coming? The floodgates certainly seem to have opened, as more and more streaming providers like Disney+, Prime Video, and even Netflix are adding live sports content to their on-demand services. But is this what future generations of audiences want? A new report from the Financial Times cites two surveys that indicate that Gen Z viewers aren’t watching live sports at anywhere near the level of older generations, and that means streaming services will have to get more creative to bring in younger customers in a future where sports are increasingly found on digital platforms.
Key Details:
- One survey shows that only 31% of viewers aged 18-24 watched a live sporting event in 2023.
- Only 53% of Gen Zers identify as sports fans, as compared to 69% of millennials.
- The survey recommends that streaming services should strongly consider adding short-form content or even sports video games to attract these sports-reluctant audiences.
The chances of leagues like the NFL and NBA no longer being watched because younger audiences have completely lost interest seem low, but there have been undeniable shifts in the viewing habits of more youthful viewers. There are multiple reasons for the waning popularity of sports among Gen Zers, including the rising price of accessing top events on TV or streaming, the increased availability of other types of entertainment, and a preference for short-form content.
Those factors have led to a significant decline in sports fandom from this age group. The Financial Times cites a survey from Morning Consult that shows that almost half of Gen Zers in the United States have never attended a live sporting event, and only 53% identify as sports fans, as compared to 69% of millennials.
The report from FT also includes data from a YouGov report that shows only 31% of viewers aged 18 to 24 watched a live sporting event in 2023, compared to 75% of audiences 55 and older. Young audiences were much more likely to try and engage with players on social media, watch highlights on short-form content platforms like YouTube, or play a video game of their favorite sport instead of watching live games.
What Can Sports Providers Do to Bring in Younger Audiences?
Whatever the reason for younger viewers not prizing live sports the way that older audiences do, their habits cast a long shadow over the future of the sports broadcasting industry.
“Everyone is worried about the future of the industry right now. It’s much more of a bear market than a bull market,” co-founder of sports advisory firm Two Circles Gareth Balch told the Financial Times. “But there is hope.”
Netflix is helping itself by creating sports docuseries that relate to the live sports it has shown interest in. The YouGov research shows that 20% of British sports fans aged 18 to 29 identified themselves as “avid” Formula 1 fans, but the number who said they loved Netflix’s “Formula 1: Drive to Survive” jumped to 31%. The streamer released its NFL-themed docuseries “Quarterback” in 2023, and will release its new show “Receiver” this year as well. These series fit hand-in-hand with Netflix’s Christmas Day NFL games, the rights to which the streamer secured in a deal announced last week.
What else can streamers do to ensure that younger audiences continue to watch sports in the future? Many are already working on turning young viewers into sports lovers. Disney+, for example, has offered animated versions of two live NHL games using characters from the show “Big City Greens,” as well as a “Toy Story“-themed broadcast of an NFL game in 2023.
Increasing their presence on social platforms like TikTok could also help streamers reach and excite younger sports fans, and different viewing options could also help. For instance, Amazon owns both Prime Video and the video game streaming platform Twitch. Now that it has the framework of a deal in place with the NBA for a package of that league’s rights starting in 2025, could it stream select games on Twitch for free in a bid to bring in more youthful customers?
Adding short-form video or even sports video games to streaming platforms could also be a big help to streaming providers in keeping young audiences engaged. According to FT, EA Sports says that playing the “EA Sports FC” video game increases the chances of a young person paying for a TV subscription by 21%.
The data from the Financial Times isn’t a prophecy of doom for sports rightsholders. It is a warning sign, however, and distributors will have to ensure they are crafting their platforms with younger audiences in mind going forward if they want to enjoy the same big-time ratings live sports have generated since sports broadcasting began.
Prime Video
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