It is Opening Day for Major League Baseball, but that will not be sending a ton of sports fans scrambling to sign up for new streaming services, according to a new survey that found sports do not affect the streaming decisions of most Americans.
The survey from Looper Insights, a TV analytics firm, found 56% of consumers said that sports rights “won’t impact their streaming decisions,” while only 25% said they stay subscribed to services because of the sports they offer.
On top of that, only 14% of respondents said they are willing to pay for multiple services for sports access, while 56% said they will not pay for multiple subscriptions just to watch sports. Looper’s survey was conducted in early February and included insights from 1,103 people.
The survey comes at an interesting time for the sports media landscape. New deals are being made, while old agreements are being tossed aside as executives place their bets on how much the public really cares about paying for live sports.
Notably, the NBA is leaving Turner at the end of this season, ending a 40-year relationship. NBA hoops will return to NBC next year, and will also be available on Amazon’s Prime Video and ABC/ESPN, one of its current partners, as part of its new $76 billion rights deal.
MLB, meanwhile, recently saw ESPN opt out of the final three years of its broadcasting deal, after the sports network looked to drop its annual payment from $550 million to $200 million. Commissioner Rob Manfred said this week he felt “disrespected” by ESPN. Another complication for baseball fans is that games are shown on a myriad of services and networks, between featured games on Apple TV+ on Friday nights to regional one-off streaming platforms for several teams.
Of course, not all sports are equally valued by the American public. Netflix paid $150 million for its pair of NFL games on Christmas day 2024 — and that seemed to work out well for the streamer, with Netflix reporting its “most-watched Christmas day ever.”
Looper Insights also surveyed more than 50 industry executives, and 57% of them said they assumed bundling or premium pricing can help entice sports fans to pay for new services. But that may not be the case, based on the responses from the fans.
