According to a new study from the London-based market research company Kantar, sports has become the main contributor to streaming service growth. Their Entertainment on Demand (EoD) reports provide ongoing analysis of video streaming markets. Now, their most recent report showed that sports is the new battleground for competing streaming services.
What is Entertainment on Demand?
Broadly, on-demand entertainment can be defined as ready, stream-able media that isn’t restricted by a set schedule. It has become extremely popular over the last decade, which saw Netflix become the most-subscribed service on the planet.
For Kantar’s analysis, EoD focuses on subscription video-on-demand (SVoD) services. While they are the biggest services out there, streaming has been adopted by many other markets. For example, the iGaming market doesn’t just create digital slots or simulated casino games, they also host live streams. Through sites like the live casino at Paddy Power, users can access interactive streams where blackjack, roulette, and other games are hosted by a real person, and then distributed to thousands over the internet. Other sites, like video-sharing and social media platforms, also let their users host streams and keep them for on-demand deployment.
Since it’s so popular, on-demand streaming has quickly become one of the entertainment industry’s most competitive media spaces. Netflix still leads the pack, but services from Amazon, Paramount, HBO, Apple, and other production houses are battling it out to claim an audience. In this competitive environment, streamers started looking at live sports as a source of repeatable content with an active, committed audience. This is partly why Netflix is the new home of WWE.
Sports Surges in Video-on-Demand
That leads us to Kantar’s findings for Q3 2024, made available through its Worldpanel subsidiary that publishes consumer insights. The study covered consumer behaviors from July to September 2024, aiming to provide a snapshot of the world’s streaming video landscape. During that period, they found that sports viewership surged during the summer of 2024. They theorize that certain events contributed to the surge, like the Olympics, which was hosted on select streaming services and would have brought even more attention to streamed live sports.
As for the numbers – half of recorded households tuned in to streamed sports during the third quarter. In 2024’s second quarter, viewership was at 44%. Kantar believes the Olympics is responsible for this growth because viewership peaked in France at 57%. They also claim that one in four of the new subscribers to Discovery+ had joined to view the Olympic Games.
It’s undeniable that the Olympics seemed to affect sports streaming, but it’s too soon to say if it’s an isolated event or part of a larger trend. Streamers have invested heavily in sports, so they clearly suspect that this is part of a larger trend that will continue, even without the Olympics. Other research firms predict the same, with more analysis readable here at Advanced Television. When data for Q4 2024 is gathered, it may prove or disprove this growing trend.
More influencing factors are on the horizon. For example, Netflix’s WWE collaboration will start in January 2025. As sports rights streaming deals mature into 2025 and beyond, this should pull even more viewers from broadcast TV and toward streaming services instead. If streaming does become the new home of sports, research firms like Kantar will continue to document its transition.
