Seven sourced facts about the way Americans are finding live games, paying for access and spending time with sports on screen.
Explore the numbersLive sports still anchors broadcast television, but the path to a game is increasingly split among streaming subscriptions, local channels and platform-specific rights. For viewers, publishers and teams, the useful question is no longer whether sports will stream. It is how people decide which viewing options deserve their time and money.
This reference page collects recent, named research from Nielsen and Deloitte. Every number links to its original source and includes the date behind it, so writers and partners can check the context before they quote it.
Sports was the second-most common reason subscribers gave for keeping it, behind live news. That makes the shift toward streaming an addition to the live-sports mix, not a simple switch-off.
Deloitte, 2025 Digital Media Trends · Survey conducted October 2024, published 2025 ↗The same survey put average monthly spending for four paid streaming services at $69. Price remains a practical part of the viewing decision for households building a sports lineup.
Deloitte, 2025 Digital Media Trends · Survey conducted October 2024, published 2025 ↗That interest comes with a value test. The report also found that viewers in these generations are weighing live programming against a growing choice of lower-cost and free viewing options.
Deloitte, 2025 Digital Media Trends · Survey conducted October 2024, published 2025 ↗Deloitte identified subscription fragmentation as a central challenge in the live-sports shift, especially as rights move across broadcast, cable and streaming destinations.
Deloitte, 2025 Sports Industry Outlook · Fall 2024 survey, published 2025 ↗Nielsen attributed the seasonal high in part to the Olympics and the start of the NFL season. Live sports remains a powerful draw for broadcast even as more rights reach streaming services.
Nielsen, 2025 Upfront/NewFront Guide · Q3 2024 viewing data, published January 2025 ↗Nielsen’s Gracenote data put Amazon at 35%, Disney+ at nearly 33% and Netflix at just over 23%. Sports programming is concentrating in a few major streaming libraries while availability keeps changing by service.
Nielsen Gracenote · Q1 2025, published February 26, 2025 ↗Nielsen reported 16,937 million minutes, up from 4,709 million in 2021. The appetite around sport clearly extends beyond the live game to stories, personalities and context.
Nielsen, Tops of Sports report · 2024 viewing data, published December 2025 ↗This page uses published research from Nielsen and Deloitte. Percentages, dollar amounts and viewing totals are reported as their original publishers state them. The sources use different audiences, time periods and methods, so the figures are presented as individual findings rather than combined into one estimate.
Last updated October 14, 2026. We will review the sources regularly and update individual facts when a newer comparable source is available. Stable anchors keep each statistic easy to reference.
SURGE Sports-Entertainment TV. “Sports Streaming Statistics: 7 Facts for 2026.” Updated October 14, 2026. https://thesurgetv.com/sports-streaming-statistics
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