A YouGov study revealed that global sports fans' preferred way of consuming live sports is via a television channel. 51% of their respondents picked this option as the best way of engaging with sports. Social media (33%), reading sports content in print/online (25%), watching non-live video content online (25%), are ahead of watching live streamed video content online (24%) and watching live content on video streaming services (22%).
In India, social media leads the way 'engaged sports fans' consume the sports. 47% of them look to social media, 42% depend on a television channel and 41% watch live streamed video online. For cricket in particular, social media leads the engagement charts for fans with 47% of them opting for it. 46% of cricket fans look to a TV channel to consume cricket matches and 39% of them look to stream it online.
For younger fans globally, (between the age group of 18-24), the scenario changes with 31% of them opting to watch live sports on a TV channel. The same number opt to watch live streamed video content online too.
With regards to the preferred length and format of sports content among fans, globally 36% of sports fans look to watch games live in their entirety. In India, this dips to 30%.
Subscriptions
21% of subscribers pick a streaming platform or service specifically to access exclusive sports content. Among 'Engaged Sports Fans'. this rises to 29%.
Football leads the sports for which viewers have subscriptions to access content globally, with 53% of sports subscribers accessing content from the sport. Cricket is at number five with 19%.
The research covered 18 markets and featured 19,000 respondents. The data was collected between 11-30 November 2022.
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