When I wrote in SBJ last March about why sports fans could finally move on from legacy TV, the landscape felt more straightforward. Streaming promised lower costs, greater control and the flexibility fans had long wanted. For a moment, it seemed as if sports audiences had found an escape hatch from the cable bundle.
But sports media rarely stands still. Since then, the NBA finalized a major rights package with Amazon, NBC and ESPN. MLS opened its matches to all Apple TV+ subscribers. And the NFL continued doing what it does better than anyone else: stretching across more platforms without losing momentum. Streaming certainly remains the future, but fans are now describing that future with more nuance than in previous years.
Our latest YouGov Sport Custom Research study, fielded to more than 1,000 sports fans, shows where sentiment is shifting: Fans still like streaming, but their perceptions are rapidly changing.
Fans are using more apps than expected
Streaming was supposed to simplify everything. Instead, many fans feel as if they’re cobbling together a viewing strategy each week. Only a quarter (26%) of all sports fans nationally rely on a single streaming service to watch live games. Another one in five (22%) use two. Roughly one in 10 (12%) lean on three and 6% use four or more. For sports streamers — which we define as those who already subscribe to at least one streaming app to watch live sports — fragmentation is even clearer. In that group, two in five (39%) use one streaming service, a third (33%) use two, a fifth (19%) use three and 9% use four or more.
These are the fans scrolling through Prime Video, HBO Max, ESPN’s streaming platform, Peacock and Paramount+ before game time. Many don’t miss cable, but they also probably didn’t expect to juggle this many apps to follow a single team or league.
Cost satisfaction is almost evenly split
Cost remains the most complicated part of this conversation. When grouping the top two box survey responses on price satisfaction, one in three (33%) sports fans say they’re satisfied with what they pay for streaming. On the other end of the spectrum, similar numbers (34%) say they’re dissatisfied. Most of the remaining fans sit in the middle or say they have no strong opinion. This indicates how unsettled streaming’s value story has become.
Sports streamers, however, are more positive. Net satisfaction on streaming costs rises to 48% among this group, while net dissatisfaction remains at 33%. This group streams games more consistently, so they feel the value more directly. Maybe streaming hasn’t yet become too expensive, but fans are indeed recalibrating what feels fair.
More fans now say streaming costs about the same as cable
Perhaps the most notable finding in our research is how many fans believe streaming’s price advantage has faded compared to traditional cable. Among all sports fans, one in five (20%) now say streaming costs feel about the same as cable. As recently as 2020, when many fans intentionally cut the cord to save money during COVID, that would be unthinkable.
Looking at sports streamers specifically reveals an even more alarming truth: While two in five (40%) of sports streamers still believe streaming is cheaper than cable, a quarter (25%) say it feels about the same and similar numbers (24%) think streaming has become more expensive. That three-way split matters: Even the most streaming-oriented fans are no longer convinced that streaming is the automatic value winner.
For years, there was a presumption that streaming would always cost less. YouGov data shows that fans are now looking beyond individual subscription prices and weighing the total number of apps required, rising service fees and the effort involved in tracking down games.
Where fans want their favorite team’s games says the most
When fans choose where they want their favorite team’s games broadcast, streaming holds a narrow lead at 31%, closely followed by cable (29%), with 27% saying they have no preference. That last number is meaningful. When more than a quarter of fans express no platform preference, it strongly suggests that convenience outweighs the platform.
Among sports streamers, the preference is clearer: Two in five (41%) want their team’s games on a popular streaming service, while a quarter (25%) prefer cable and 27% have no preference. Even inside the group most invested in streaming, platform indifference is rising. The takeaway seems clear: Fans want the easiest, most convenient path to the broadcast.
Where this leaves us
Our research about breaking the bundle last March centered on liberation. Fans had more control than ever, and streaming offered a viewing experience cable could never match. All of this is still true.
But fans are quickly moving into the next phase of streaming. They’re no longer evaluating whether they can leave cable. Instead, they’re assessing whether streaming delivers the clarity, predictability and ease they expected. The next chapter in sports media will not be defined by who is on the most platforms. It will be defined by who makes the experience feel simple again.
Fans do not need perfection — they need predictability. And that is precisely the opportunity facing every league, network and platform that hope to shape the future of sports viewing.
Davey Chadwick (Davey.Chadwick@yougov.com) is Head of US Sport — Client Services at YouGov Sport. AI contributed to the optimization of this column.
