A football fan posts a video on social media during the UEFA Euro 2024 semi-final.
Inaki Esnaola | Getty Images Sports | Getty Images
The world of live sports is undergoing a transformation as people use more screens to curate their own broadcast experiences.
Today, a large majority of sports fans say they use a second screen during live streams, when chatting about the game with friends, or checking social media. At the same time, a growing number of young fans are turning to video platforms to watch highlights, listen to live commentary from influencers and engage in communities built around sport.
YouTube has been one of the biggest beneficiaries. The platform, owned by Google-parent Alphabetsaw viewing of sports content increases by 45% in 2024, as people searched for highlights from the Paris Olympics and watched exclusive NFL coverage on YouTube on Sundays.
Content creators such as Mark Goldbridge, a British streamer who hosts live “watches” of Premier League football matches on YouTube, have helped the platform offer alternative sporting experiences.
“People are no longer just watching Sky Sports at half past four, they’re multitasking,” Goldbridge told CNBC, referring to Europe’s leading sports broadcaster. “They participate in our live chat; they play video games like Championship Manager with sports in the background.”
Its streams, which regularly attract more than 250,000 viewers, also offer broadcasters an alternative way to reach a global audience. In November 2024, Sky Sports Austria gave Goldbridge the rights to live stream an Austrian Bundesliga football match as part of its broadcast on YouTube, helping it reach its community of 1.3 million fans..
The popular football show “Hors Jeu” is broadcast on Twitch and YouTube.
Joel Saget | Afp | Getty Images
For rights holders, the migration of viewers to streaming platforms is extremely lucrative. Competition from Amazon, NetflixAnd Disney has helped increase the value of streaming sports media rights in the United States since $14.6 billion in 2015 to nearly $30 billion in 2024, according to estimates from S&P.
But even though these agreements are becoming more common in the United States, not all countries are aware.
“In European markets like Germany, France and, to some extent, Britain, there has been a lot more stagnation,” Ben Stevenson, head of research at research firm SportBusiness, told CNBC. “Media revenues in these markets have declined post-Covid and teams or leagues have tended to prefer the guaranteed audience that comes with traditional broadcast deals.”
The most dynamic markets
The dominance of traditional broadcasters in Europe and North America means that streaming innovation often originates in less developed markets.
“Rights holders seek deals with traditional broadcasters because they have guaranteed income,” Stevenson said. “Agreements with streamers have therefore emerged in markets where there were no media rights agreements reaching a certain minimum guarantee.”
In Brazil, where the rights to broadcast top-level matches are held by football clubs rather than leagues, broadcasting has moved to social media. In 2022, CazéTV, a production company owned by agency LiveMode and popular Brazilian streamer Casimiro, secured the rights to live stream Rio de Janeiro state league matches as well as live reactions from its own commentators.
A fan listens to live commentary on a mobile phone during the Barclays Women’s Super League match between Manchester United and Aston Villa.
Matt McNulty | Getty Images Sports | Getty Images
The success of the format allowed CazéTV to obtain the rights to broadcast 50% of the 2022 FIFA World Cup matches on Casimiro’s Twitch and YouTube channels. LiveMode co-founder Sergio Lopes told the StreamTime Sports podcast that Casimiro’s livestream was watched on 48 million different devices, as people tuned in to hear the streamer’s reaction to every pass or play.
By leveraging Casimiro’s commentary on CazéTV, FIFA was able to avoid cannibalizing its own engagement while also advertising its paid channel.
These changes present an opportunity for traditional broadcasters to develop lucrative new content formats, Stevenson said. “F1 has increased its deal value from around $4 million a year to around $80 million by moving from direct broadcast to digital programming,” he told CNBC.
British company Sky Sports, meanwhile, is also rushing to adapt. In August 2024, the company launched its own streaming service to meet the growing demand for live sports, giving them access to four times more football matches from the lower leagues, as well as more tennis coverage , golf and other sports.
Disclosure: Comcast, which owns NBCUniversal, parent company of CNBC, owns Sky Sports.