Popularity of NFL as a Streaming Product Shows Why Streaming-Exclusive Games Are Increasing
Data from PCH Insights shows that watching the NFL on streaming is more popular than watching the NBA, MLB or NHL on TV.
NFL football can be found in more places than ever, nowadays. Viewers can still find the bulk of the league’s games on CBS and Fox on Sunday afternoons, but cord-cutters can also see Sunday afternoon CBS games on Paramount+, watch “Thursday Night Football” on Prime Video, and stream “Sunday Night Football” on Peacock. In 2023, audiences had to grapple with a new wrinkle in NFL broadcasting: streaming-exclusive regular season and Wild Card games on Peacock, the latter of which caused no end of fan discontent on social media platforms. But new data released in a survey by PCH Insights has bad news for NFL fans who don’t want to see streaming-exclusive games continue, as viewers watch streaming NFL games more often than basically any other sport.
- More viewers watched NFL games on streaming than they watched the NBA, NHL, or MLB on TV in the past six months.
- Younger audiences are even more likely to watch NFL games via streamers than the average viewer.
- Prime Video and Peacock are set to offer exclusive NFL games over the course of the 2024-25 season.
The NFL has long been the top TV product in the United States; NFL games accounted for 93 of the 100 most-watched TV programs in 2023. The PCH Insights survey agrees, finding that in the past six months, more viewers had watched the NFL on linear TV than any other sport through TV or streaming. This held true for every age group of viewers, and with audiences at every income level.
On average, 23% of audiences said that they had watched an NFL game on TV in the past six months. The second-most-given answer by respondents to PCH in regard to which sports they would be watching in that time frame was “none of the above,” with 12% of participants choosing that response. In third place, 11% of customers said they had watched an NFL game on a streaming service within the preceding six months.
As the data shows, that 11% cohort is larger than the number of viewers who said they’d watched the NBA, NHL, or MLB on any platform within the preceding half-year. The only age cohort that watches any sport on any medium more than they do the NFL on streaming is audiences 55 and up; this group still watches the NFL on TV most, but its next-most-preferred sport is watching MLB on TV.
On the other end of the age spectrum, young viewers over-index on streaming NFL games. Thirteen percent of viewers aged 18-24 watched an NFL game on a streaming service in the past six months, and the number climbs to 14% among audiences 25-44. This audience segment is particularly attractive to streaming providers and advertisers, as they typically have more disposable income.
Which Platforms Offer Streaming-Exclusive NFL Games?
The data from PCH Insights helps give further context to the success Peacock experienced when streaming its exclusive Wild Card game on Jan. 13. The game brought 3 million new subscribers to Peacock, and it could be one of the reasons the number of fans who say they’ve streamed an NFL game within the past six months is so high.
In 2024, Peacock will get another exclusive NFL game, this time at the start of the season. On Friday, Sept. 6, Peacock will present a game between the Green Bay Packers and the Philadelphia Eagles in São Paulo, Brazil, the first time the league has ever played there. There’s no word yet on whether the game will be available on linear NBC in the teams’ home markets as previous Peacock “exclusives” have done, but if it is not it will be a true streaming-only game.
Prime Video will snag an exclusive NFL contest in 2024-25 as well, plunking down $120 million to secure the rights to the Wild Card game Peacock offered in 2023. That’s on top of “Thursday Night Football” broadcasts, which national audiences will only be able to watch with Prime Video over the course of the regular season. Viewers in the markets of the teams playing can still watch “TNF” games on local TV channels.
Paramount+ is unlikely to score an exclusive NFL game of its own this year. There’s already been speculation that the $2 billion Paramount pays for its Sunday afternoon NFL package each year could bankrupt the company, and as it evaluates bids from firms that want to acquire the company it likely doesn’t have the extra cash lying around to claim an exclusive NFL game.
The NFL is far and away the most valuable product on TV. Its officials continue to espouse the virtues of its broadcast and cable partners, but the league clearly has had an impact with streaming audiences as well. More viewers watched an NFL game on streaming than they did any other sports league on any platform in the past six months, reasserting the league’s dominance on yet another medium.
Peacock
Peacock is a subscription video streaming service from NBCUniversal that includes original shows, blockbuster movies, and classic television series. Peacock is home to “Yellowstone,” and “The Office,” as well as original hits like “Poker Face” and “Bel-Air.” You can also watch live sports including NFL, MLB, WWE, Olympics, Premier League, NASCAR, French Open, College Football and Basketball, and PGA Tour. Premium Plus subscribers can stream their local NBC feed in all 210 markets.