Sports fans are abandoning traditional TV

It’s no secret that

streaming services
are making a significant push toward more

live sports content
. Last year, Netflix hosted NFL Christmas Gameday live for over 30 million global viewers, and other streaming services with live sports programming, such as

YouTube TV
, are attracting many cord-cutters.

Later this year, sports streaming is set for a major shake-up with Disney’s long-awaited release of its new “flagship”

ESPN streaming service
, which will feature all its popular linear channels for watching football, basketball, golf, and more. This shift from traditional cable to streaming for sports has been gradual, but in the past couple of years, it has really begun to take shape, becoming a viable alternative for many.

Now, a new report from Hub Entertainment Research illustrates just how much the sports streaming landscape has changed, and it may indicate what the future holds for live sports streaming.

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Streaming is becoming the go-to destination for live sports

US sports fans are choosing streaming more than ever before

Hisense

According to Hub’s survey results (via The Streamable), people are turning to SVOD (subscription video-on-demand) streaming services for live sports content at a rate of 69 percent as of January 2025, a noticeable increase from 62 percent in January 2024.

This figure surpasses that of cable networks and broadcast networks, which had rates of 63 percent and 66 percent, respectively, as of January 2025. If you’re curious about FAST (free ad-supported streaming services), they lagged behind at just 10 percent.

If you’re unfamiliar with the term SVOD (subscription video-on-demand), it refers to any service that allows users to watch TV shows, movies, sports, and more, all streamed on demand. Platforms like Netflix, Disney+, Max, YouTube TV, Hulu, and Paramount+ are all examples of this.

Hub’s survey also asked US sports fans which type of service they now go to first for live sports content. Reportedly, 30 percent of viewers turned to streaming first, compared to 29 percent for broadcast networks and 31 percent for cable networks as of January 2025. This positions streaming neck and neck with traditional TV networks. Compared to last year, sports streaming has experienced a substantial jump in viewership, primarily at the expense of cable networks, increasing from 23 percent to 30 percent.

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Streaming is the future of sports

The sports streaming market is diversifying

Pocket-lint / Netflix

Based on Hub’s report, viewers are shifting to streaming services for watching sports rather than linear TV, much like they did with TV shows and movies over the past decade. This shift toward streaming for sports seemed inevitable to me, and the main reason why in my view is convenience, and as streaming services expand with more sports content, the gap between streaming and linear TV will only continue to widen.

In my view, streaming is undoubtedly the future of live sports, and given how heavily streaming services are investing in sports (approximately $12 billion this year), it seems that companies are beginning to see it that way as well.

As I mentioned earlier, Netflix recently embarked on its foray into live sports by hosting the Jake Paul versus Mike Tyson boxing match last year, which Netflix reported attracted over 60 million households. It also hosted NFL Christmas Game Day Live as part of its NFL partnership and streams WWE Raw every week. Prime Video is also beginning to make its move into sports streaming with an 11-year streaming deal with the NBA, set to start at the beginning of the 2025-26 NBA season.

I believe YouTube TV is primarily responsibile for starting this shift, as it offers a plethora of sports channels, including ESPN, Fox Sports, CBS Sports, and NBA TV, with its basic plan priced at $83 a month. The last time Google shared its subscriber count for YouTube TV was in February 2024, when it reported that the service had over 8 million subscribers. Analysts now predict it has around 9.4 million subscribers, and that’s a lot of people who are likely primarily streaming sports now.

The streaming market is also diversifying, with new options emerging, such as

DirecTV’s new Genre Packs
, which include a MySports option that offers over 20 sports channels for $70 a month.

As I alluded to earlier, sports streaming will really heat up at the end of this year when Disney finally releases its highly anticipated new ESPN streaming service. Once people can stream all of ESPN’s linear TV channels to their heart’s content, I believe this will truly solidify streaming as the home of live sports now, and next year’s numbers will likely show that.

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