By Stefanie Briec, Head of Demand Sales UK and International, AudienceXpress
Ever since the BBC first began televising the Wimbledon Tennis Championships in 1937, sport has been a staple of TV schedules around the world. And showpiece sporting events – like the Olympics, the World Cup, and the Super Bowl – have traditionally been the realm of major broadcasters and TV networks, pulling in billions of viewers and big investments from household names.
Now, times are changing. The rise of streaming has seen audiences fragment across linear and digital TV platforms. New players have entered the arena, and the sporting content offered to consumers now consists of so much more than just the games.
This evolution has allowed advertisers of different sizes and budgets to access highly valuable inventory, taking advantage of digital targeting capabilities to reach diverse and niche fandoms. As streaming continues to grow, brands need to chart their path through this evolving media landscape – here’s how they should be playing the field.
Kicking off: With more content comes greater fragmentation
We’re already witnessing what will be a landmark year for sports streaming. Super Bowl LIX will be streamed on Fox’s free-to-view, ad-supported platform Tubi for the first time and 2025 began with WWE Raw making its debut on Netflix, moving away from network TV for the first time in 33 years.
With a reshuffle of rights, sporting content has expanded to reach audiences spread across platforms. It now includes spin-off programmes such as long-form docuseries like Drive to Survive, Welcome to Wrexham and Full Swing. Featuring captivating storytelling and exclusive programming, digital platforms enable viewers to access behind-the-scenes footage, interviews, and analysis, which has taken engagement to new heights. The variety of content also caters to the changing habits of sports fans with a wealth of snackable, on-the-go content, such as short clips and highlights made available across platforms and devices.
Indeed, the digital world of sports is changing with viewers’ habits. Audiences crave greater interactivity, whether through access to live statistics during a game, choice of camera angles, interactive polls relating to the action or on social media channels. These experiences enhance viewer enjoyment and forge a strong connection between the audience and the content.
For broadcasters and streaming platforms, this evolution has given them a golden opportunity to grow their audiences. For media buyers, it expands the amount of available inventory on offer. And while this is a good thing, it also comes with its own set of challenges.
The brand playbook: A fragmented sports media requires a data-driven approach
The fragmentation in the sports rights landscape makes it incredibly difficult to navigate. There’s a mix of traditional broadcasters, streaming services that are moving into the sports arena for the first time, specialist sports streaming platforms, and in many cases, the leagues and associations themselves also producing their own content. For buyers, figuring out where audiences are and what content they are consuming across all the different options is a highly complex task.
Recent AudienceXpress research shows that the number of streaming platforms and associated buying tools is inhibiting investment in streaming advertising. Up to 43% of marketers surveyed cited this as the top reason they weren’t spending more on CTV advertising.
Getting to grips with this issue is key for advertisers, streaming platforms, and sports organisations.
Streaming platforms offer a data-rich environment that buyers can use to tap into custom audience segments. By joining up the right data points, advertisers can identify their desired audiences and increase their targeting precision across streaming platforms. What’s required is an effective framework for bringing together this data, so buyers can make data-driven decisions that enable effective campaigns.
Winning habits: Optimising media buying strategies
When it comes to buying strategies across sports streaming content, programmatic is a key tool for buyers. Nearly half (48%) of marketers questioned in AudienceXpress’ recent research said they thought programmatic buying of streaming inventory was more effective than direct buys.
With a growing array of prestigious live events moving to streaming platforms, programmatic automation and optimisation will become even more important if brands want a piece of the action. By accounting for the dynamic environment of live sports with millions of concurrent viewers and little room for error, the ability to deliver seamless ad experiences at the right time to the right audience increases with the use of real-time programmatic capabilities.
With programmatic allowing for a greater diversity of brands to advertise across premium sporting content, there’s more than one chance to delight viewers with memorable moments aside from the Super Bowl halftime.
Full-time whistle: The game has changed, so advertisers must adapt accordingly
Streaming is reshuffling sports rights, influencing viewing habits and changing brand strategies. Programmatic advertising will play a fundamental role for brands that want to tackle fragmentation in sports media and ensure their strategies are on target. For those of us that follow both ad tech and sport, 2025 will see just as much exciting action behind the scenes as it will on the pitch.
About AudienceXpress
AudienceXpress is a Comcast company that provides market-leading media solutions that allow advertisers to buy premium TV advertising – across all screens – on an audience basis. In today’s dynamic and evolving media marketplace, AudienceXpress provides direct, easy and scaled access to the premium TV audiences that matter, including across broadcast, cable, digital and connected TV. For more information, visit audiencexpress.com and follow us on LinkedIn.
