Live sports delivers something increasingly scarce in today’s fragmented media landscape: large, highly engaged audiences that show up together in real time.
It’s no surprise that advertisers want in. According to research from Premion and Advertiser Perceptions, 73% of surveyed advertisers plan to allocate budget to live sports streaming and CTV over the next six to 12 months, rising to 79% among agencies. Reaching highly engaged sports fans (61%) and tapping into major live events (52%) are among the biggest draws.
But, as investment in live sports streaming grows, so do advertiser expectations. They want easier access to premium inventory, greater transparency and clearer proof that their investment is delivering results.
And while the audience opportunity is clear, turning that opportunity into effective campaigns isn’t always straightforward. Cost remains the biggest barrier to greater investment (44%), followed by challenges measuring performance and ROI (41%). Transparency (35%), buying complexity (34%) and access to premium inventory (34%) also present obstacles.
Notably, only 23% say that it’s challenging to reach sports audiences at sufficient scale. In other words, the audience is there. The bigger challenge is making it easier to access, measure and demonstrate the value of live sports audiences.
This is particularly important for local and regional advertisers, which now have more ways to participate in premium live sports environments that were once dominated by national brands.
Here are three ways to make the most of that opportunity:
- Measure what matters in your market
As live sports streaming matures, advertisers increasingly expect measurement to demonstrate real performance. Local market visibility is especially important: 57% of advertisers prioritize audience delivery and geographic reporting down to the local level, making it the top measurement capability in our study.
Beyond local audience delivery and geographic reporting, advertisers are prioritizing attribution after exposure (52%), transparent reporting across publishers and inventory sources (49%) and incremental reach beyond linear TV (49%).
For local advertisers, measurement should start with the campaign objective and the market. Did you reach the right consumers in the geographies that matter to your business? What incremental audience did streaming add? And what happened after consumers were exposed?
The answers to those questions can be more important than knowing exactly which game delivered which impressions. Only 39% of advertisers prioritize reporting by individual sport, league or live event. There’s also no single KPI that defines live sports success. A campaign focused on awareness requires different measurement than one designed to drive website visits, store traffic or sales.
Start with the outcome you want to achieve, then build the measurement strategy around it.
- Take the complexity out of the buy
Live sports now spans broadcast networks, cable, streaming platforms, regional sports networks and other publishers. More choice creates more opportunity, but it can also make buying increasingly complicated.
For advertisers, the challenge isn’t simply finding sports audiences; it’s navigating a fragmented marketplace without adding unnecessary cost or complexity to the media plan.
Local advertisers shouldn’t have to become experts in sports rights or manage relationships across a long list of platforms to reach fans. Look for ways to simplify access through curated inventory and partners that can navigate the landscape across publishers. This can create a more streamlined path to premium sports audiences while providing greater consistency in how campaigns are bought, delivered and measured.
The definition of premium sports inventory is also expanding. The growth of college sports, women’s sports, international competitions, regional sports and emerging leagues offers more entry points for advertisers at different investment levels.
For local and regional businesses, smart curation can help democratize access to valuable live sports audiences without adding complexity to the media plan.
- Follow the fan, not the platform
For consumers, the experience is increasingly seamless across linear and streaming. They simply want to watch the game, wherever it happens to be.
Advertisers should plan the same way. Already, 40% of them say they’re investing in live sports streaming to extend the reach and impact of linear TV campaigns, while 37% are looking to connect with streaming-first and cord-cutting sports fans. These priorities underscore the importance of thinking about live sports audiences holistically, rather than treating linear and streaming as separate channels.
With that in mind, consider a total TV approach. Plan around the audience rather than the delivery platform.
Streaming sports can play a complementary role within the broader TV plan for local advertisers. It’s a place to find audiences that linear may be missing. It’s an opportunity to extend reach. And it’s a chance to think about how the two can work together more effectively.
The appetite for live sports streaming is already strong. The next phase is about removing the friction that stands between advertiser demand and greater investment. That means making live sports easier to access, bringing greater accountability to measurement and simplifying an increasingly fragmented buying landscape.
