A passion for live sports and the growing availability of OTT TV services will see consumers 

 

increasingly engage sports on broadband platforms, according to research firm TDG.

 

According to TDG, whether measured in ratings or revenue, TV coverage of live amateur and 

 

professional sporting events is a defining part of the television experience, with findings in TDG’s 

 

new report – Game On! The Future of Sports Video Viewing, 2015-2025 – suggesting that adult 

 

broadband users spend one-fifth of their weekly TV time viewing live sports.

 

As broadband distribution begins to play a more important role in feeding this demand, weekly per-

 

capita viewing of OTT TV sports will grow from just under 25 minutes in 2015 to more than four 

 

hours in 2025, suggests TDG.

 

“Most TV viewers enjoy live sports,” says Joel Espelien, TDG Senior Advisor and author of the report. 

 

“There are, however, certain segments that do so more than others. This reality was not lost on 

 

Dish, who positioned ESPN front and centre in its new ‘skinny’ Sling TV broadband service.”

 

TDG research finds that 72 per cent of adult broadband users (ABUs) consider themselves avid fans 

 

of least one sports genre (that is, ranking their fan status ‘7’ or higher on a 10-point scale. One-fifth 

 

(19 per cent) of ABUs are avid fans of six or more sports, a rate that swells to one-third (33 per cent) 

 

among 25-34s. These consumers spend significant time and money feeding their sports habits, 

 

forming a group of passionate and knowledgeable fans that is the mainstay of ticket sales and 

 

multisport networks such as ESPN.

 

That said, according to TDG, the majority of adults tend to fall somewhere in the middle, with 52 per 

 

cent of ABUs being avid fans of one-to-five different sports. This segment constitutes the modern 

 

mainstream sports fan whom, because of time, tradition, the popularity of hometown teams, or 

 

other factors are thus more selective in the sports they choose to follow. According to Espelien, it is 

 

safe to say that the NFL and Olympics do well among this group, as do other traditionally 

 

mainstream sports like MLB and the NBA. This group also includes those who are fans of the same 

 

sport at both the college and professional level (e.g., college football and the NFL count as two 

 

sports).