Study: 50% of All Viewers Say They’re Highly Unlikely to Subscribe to a New Sports Streamer This Year
The new survey from PCH Insights has some important data for Disney, Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery as they prepare to launch a joint venture sports streamer.
The larger, more existential questions surrounding the joint venture sports streamer from Disney, Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery have mostly crowded out other considerations. That’s especially true this week, as two congressmen have called on the CEOs of the three companies to answer questions about the service or face deeper scrutiny over concerns of anti-competitiveness. But the streamer may already face a larger problem that not many analysts are discussing these days: a lack of customers. A new survey from PCH Insights includes data that will be highly relevant to the three companies, particularly in its section regarding how many people intend to sign up for a new sports streaming platform this year.
- The survey found that 91% of respondents already subscribe to a sports streaming platform like ESPN+ or NFL Sunday Ticket.
- Fifty percent said they were very unlikely to sign up for a new sports streaming service in 2024.
- Fox CEO Lachlan Murdoch said he expects the JV platform to add 1 million subscribers per year in its first five years.
The data from PCH Insights shows that viewers are not at all averse to sports on streaming philosophically, at least. Indeed, 91% of respondents to its survey said that they pay for one of seven sports subscriptions: ESPN+, DAZN, MLB.TV, NFL RedZone (a linear channel available on NFL+ and other services), NHL Center Ice, NBA League Pass, or Premier League Football.
These days, viewers almost have to subscribe to at least one streaming platform if they want to be sports completists; there’s no way to watch “Thursday Night Football” every week without a Prime Video subscription, for example. Older viewers are less likely to have a sports subscription, but even this cohort told PCH Insights that it pays for at least one such subscription at a rate of 88%.
However, it appears that many American consumers have all the sports streaming they want for the time being. The survey also indicates that 50% of respondents say they’re highly unlikely to subscribe for another sports service this year, and another 12% say they’re somewhat unlikely to do so. That accounts for almost two-thirds of audiences who say they’re probably not picking up a new sports streamer during 2024.
This number is somewhat surprising, but given that ad-free streaming rose in price 25% over the course of 2023, and that sports platforms are often quite expensive because of the high cost of acquiring sports rights, it’s not a shock that most viewers say they don’t want a new sports streamer this year.
Can ‘Spulu’ Change Customers’ Minds?
Sports media analysts have taken to calling the JV platform from Disney, Fox, and WBD “Spulu,” as the entertainment streaming service Hulu was once also jointly owned by three companies. The platform is intended to launch in the fall of 2024 currently, but PCH’s data shows that it may have a hard time attracting viewers in its first year on the market.
Fox CEO Lachlan Murdoch has already indicated the streamer could see some challenges building scale. In early March, Murdoch said he thought the platform could attract around 1 million subscribers per year in its first five years, a rather slow build-up for a streaming platform. The predicted price of the streamer is likely playing a big role in the reluctance of customers; viewers will likely have to shell out around $50 per month to get the service.
But does Spulu have the power to change the market when it launches? Sports fans could decide to flock to the streamer if they find it has most of the channels they watch on a more traditional pay-TV plan, especially if it costs around half of what they pay to get cable or satellite. A 2023 survey found that the average cable customer spends $1,600 per year on channels they don’t watch, and if viewers see the platform as a way to get the channels they love most and skip the networks they don’t use, many could change their minds about subscribing to a new sports streamer in 2024.
There are many hurdles for Spulu to overcome before it gets to customers at all. But if it does, it will face a market that’s reluctant to pay for more sports streaming options. However, it also stands a good chance of convincing cable and satellite subscribers that it’s a better choice for them, with a wide range of sports choices and a distinct lack of many networks that sports fans don’t watch anyway.
ESPN+
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