Digital Live Sports Viewership Will Grow 8.3% YoY in 2025

As sports viewing shifts into a new era, streaming is becoming the default destination for fans. According to Nielsen, digital live sports viewership is set to grow 8.3% in 2025 (far outpacing the broader sports category). Platforms like YouTube and Netflix have helped push streaming’s total viewing share to 45.7% as more fans choose digital as their home base for live sports. Meanwhile, broadcast and cable continue to lose ground: Broadcast slipped 1.1 points year over year to 22.9% and cable fell more than 4% to 22.2%, even with a slight NFL-driven lift softening the decline.

For marketers, the shift toward watching live sports on digital platforms isn’t just a viewing trend — it’s a performance opportunity. Streaming ads consistently deliver stronger results, outperforming cable and broadcast placements by 66% during major live events. Netflix’s NFL Christmas Day games made that clear, generating 84% higher ad effectiveness than the average NFL broadcast for entertainment brands, while Peacock’s Week 1 Brazil matchup delivered a remarkable 116% lift over standard TV ads. And with streaming now commanding the largest share of ad-supported TV viewing, advertisers using CTV gain access to a larger, more attentive sports audience, along with clearer measurement and more actionable insights.

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