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Streaming continues to be an ever-evolving landscape and a contentious battleground for streaming platforms, media companies and sports leagues alike. This week, the sports streaming industry faced a major shake-up from Venu Sports, a joint venture between Disney, Fox and Warner Bros Discovery that offers the sports channels of all three companies. The platform was set to launch this week but has been put on hold due to legal challenges, and the future of the service is therefore uncertain.
If the platform manages to overcome the legal battle and go live, data from CivicScience shows that 28% of those who know about the platform are likely to subscribe to it, including 9% who are “very” likely to do so. It has also attracted the interest of 18% of those considering cancelling their cable/satellite subscription, 42% of Peacock users and 34% of Amazon Prime Video users.
Take our poll: How likely are you to subscribe to the new sports-focused streaming service Venu Sports, if at all?
The data suggests that Venu would attract a lot of interest from streamers. What does the current sports streaming landscape look like right now?
The upward trend in cable TV cancellations continues.
Data from CivicScience shows that the percentage of those who have canceled their cable or satellite TV has increased by 10 percentage points to 61% since 2022, even as the industry begins to resemble cable TV with its variety of packages and combinations like Venu.
Live sports have also fueled the fierce battle for streaming subscriptions – the percentage of Americans who watch an average of at least one hour of sports per week on TV and say they have canceled their cable/satellite package has increased nine percentage points to 58% over the same period.
Live sports fans are interested in new subscriptions this year.
Further data from CivicScience shows that there is likely a lot of movement in the sports streaming space among consumers. While 14% of sports viewers say they already subscribe to their preferred streaming service for sports broadcasts, More than a third say they are likely to subscribe to a streaming service to watch live sports. 1
Among numerous sports streaming options, Amazon Prime Video tops the list of most popular platforms for live sports among sports fans, just ahead of ESPN+, according to a survey by CivicScience. This is especially notable because Amazon began broadcasting the WNBA and NBA shortly after reaching an agreement with the WNBA and NBA to broadcast the 2025-26 season (pending the outcome of litigation). Peacock, likely driven by the momentum of the Olympics and its exclusive NFL games, rounds out the top three.
Let us know:
Do you think streaming services will overtake traditional sports broadcasts in the coming decades or not?
Whether the NBA is moving to Amazon or the Paris Olympics are on Peacock, it’s clear that sports will play a significant role in the streaming industry in the coming years. The trend of canceling cable and adding subscriptions among sports viewers is unabated, although about 3 in 10 sports fans with a subscription of any kind say they “have too many subscriptions.” 2 And while Venu Sports is unlikely to become a reality, the interest it has generated suggests that cable-like packages could still play a role in the world of sports streaming.
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