US Sports Streaming 2025

Linear TV’s Grip on Live Sports Loosens

Download
Share
About This Report
Live sports is drifting from linear TV to fragmented streaming. That’s raising costs, confusing viewers, and forcing leagues and advertisers to navigate new tradeoffs between reach, revenues, and shifting time spent.
Table of Contents

Live sports is shifting from unified TV viewing to being scattered among streaming services. Rising rights fees and fragmented access are creating tension between maximizing revenues and maintaining a broad reach, reshaping strategies for both leagues and ad buyers.

Key Question: How is live sports viewership changing?

Key Stat: From 2023 to 2025, digital’s share of US time spent with live sports increased from about one-fourth to one-third, according to Inscape.

Clients can find the full version of this chart later in the report.

authors

Ross Benes

Contributors

Paul Briggs
Principal Analyst
Rahul Chadha
Director, Report Editing
Chuck Rawlings
Senior Researcher
Sakina Thanawala
Copy Editor
Matt Torpey
Senior Chart Editor
Emman Velasco
Chart Editor
Yoram Wurmser
Principal Analyst
Unlock Unlimited Insights with PRO+