Happy Monday War & Peaceniks! Ready to play‽
Right in time for the Super Bowl, I just completed a survey (with PCH Consumer Insights) of 15,137 Americans, on their sports media consumption. (The responses are from PCH’s registered 22 million community members - this is first-party data. Also, the colors in the charts are the official KC Chiefs Red and Philly Eagles Midnight Green!)
Americans take their sports very seriously. While two-thirds of those surveyed say “general entertainment” is more important to their media diet than sports, more than half of US audiences say they watch sports regularly.
This explains the huge audiences for big games - the NFC and AFC Championship games averaged more than 50 million viewers each - proving why live sports may be the best advertising platform in media. In fact, in 2022, 94 of the top 100 TV programs were sports.
Of those top 100 TV programs, 82 were NFL games. This is reinforced by our data which shows that the NFL is by far America’s most popular professional sport. (Our survey was limited to the last 6 months, so the Olympics were not available.)
The NFL is twice as popular as the next national sports league, the NBA, followed in third place by Major League Baseball.
A bit surprising was FIFA’s proximity to the top three, and the fact that World Cup Soccer was significantly more popular in 2022 than the NHL. Also interesting is Premier League Football (aka soccer) so quickly catching up to Hockey as a US fan fave.
When you break down where and how fans watch their sports…
More viewers now watch the NFL on streaming than watch Baseball on TV - almost as many as the NBA on television. This is likely largely driven by the starting lineup of Monday Night Football on ESPN+ and Amazon’s Thursday Night Football. It also portends good plays for YouTube’s acquisition of NFL Sunday Ticket.
Crucially, consumers’ obsession with sports is now one of the most important drivers of the media economy. As we found in our last survey, viewers tend to throw fewer flags about ads in sports, making live sports TV’S most effective advertising environment.
And, while just 34% of viewers say sports is more important than other forms of entertainment, most of that fanbase is willing to prove their love with their wallets.
30% of Americans report paying for their sports, with younger consumers even more willing to fork over cash to watch; once again proving what we have found in three consecutive surveys of more than 80,000 consumers; consumers under 45 are more willing and able to pay for the media they most want.
Disney’s ESPN is the obvious dynasty in sports media. But they are not alone.
And, with the rise of numerous other sports in media, and the football-field-sized investments in sports by Alphabet, Apple, NBCU and Amazon, not to mention fast-growing college football and basketball (which I do regret not including in this study - apologies), and the coming 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, there seems to be an open field for sports entertainment, and a growing appetite among fans for more sports on streaming.
All this data helps explain skyrocketing prices for sports rights, and the major league jump in valuation for all the pro sports leagues in the last year:
Note: While 40% of American sports are played by Women, just 4% of major media coverage of sports is of Women's Sports, which clearly affects how much of it we watch.
So, as you pop your popcorn, melt your nacho cheese, and buffalo your wings for the Super Bowl next weekend, know that you are among millions of fans making sports the linebacker-sized media business it is and will continue to be.
On Wednesday, February 15, I’ll be holding my monthly webinar for paying Media War & Piece subs. The details are below. IF you see them, thanks for buying your tickets! If you don’t, please consider subscribing and joining the game!
Enjoy the week and #FlyEaglesFly!
ESHAP
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Media War & Peace to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.