As audiences continue to increase their streaming consumption, sports are ready to join the ranks of hit programs like 怪事, 大楼里只有谋杀案 和 Obi-Wan Kenobi. And with new streaming-exclusive deals involving the NFL and MLS in play, fans are ready, as more than one-third of U.S. homes now access TV programming strictly through an internet connection1.
While more than 90% of the homes in the U.S. have access to the internet, the growing abundance of video streaming services and content—both live and on-demand—provides audiences with ample choice outside of traditional TV options. And select sports leagues are transitioning as well. This year, the NFL’s Thursday Night Football (TNF) became exclusive to Amazon Prime Video; and starting next season, MLS matches will be exclusive to a new streaming service within the Apple TV app.
These two rights deals signal the shift that has been building as emerging digital platforms have progressively increased their stakes in sports rights. While some deals will continue to involve a mix of linear and streaming, such as the new Big Ten Conference deal, recent viewership trends illustrate how comfortable fans are in accessing sports content without traditional broadcast and cable access.
According to 尼尔森粉丝洞察, 80% of sports fans, 76% of NFL fans and 89% of soccer fans have regularly or sometimes watched sports on any streaming or online channel this year.
从纯粹的收视角度来看，观众在亚马逊上观看流媒体 NFL 比赛的参与度似乎远远高于在优质有线电视上观看比赛的参与度。尼尔森电视收视率数据显示，今年亚马逊 Prime Video 上的前三场 TNF 比赛所吸引的观众（分别为 1300 万、1100 万和 1170 万）明显多于去年仅在 NFL Network 上播出的七场周四比赛。
这一收视率数据凸显了自 2016-17 NFL 赛季期间推特首次将 10 场 TNF 比赛与传统转播同时流媒体化以来发生了多大变化，通过互联网连接获取电视内容的家庭已经做好了准备。
These homes, dubbed broadband-only homes2, spend an oversized amount of time with sports programming, along with local and national news. Across the top 56 U.S. local markets where Nielsen measures TV audiences, BBO households are 36% more likely to watch sports events than the average TV household. In some markets, they are twice as likely to view sports events3.
As a genre, sports has been slower to migrate to streaming platforms, but audiences’ appetite for over-the-top content continues to grow. In August 2022, streaming captured 35% of total TV time, capping six consecutive months of viewership highs. Access preference is even clearer when we look at the decline in the number of TV households that receive their content solely from a cable or satellite provider.
毫不奇怪，随着时间的推移，BBO 家庭所占比例的增加，BBO 家庭的构成也在不断扩大。虽然 25-34 岁的人最有可能生活在 BBO 家庭中（58.7%），但互联网的连接、访问和内容的可用性激发了更广泛受众的采用。例如，超过 51% 的 2-11 岁儿童生活在 BBO 家庭中，近四分之一的 50-64 岁成年人也生活在 BBO 家庭中。而就在五年前，只有 2.1% 的 50-64 岁成年人生活在 BBO 家庭中。
即使BBO住宅的构成在不断扩大，但大多数BBO住宅仍比美国普通家庭更年轻、面积更大、收入更高。毫不奇怪，由于基础设施的便利，BBO住宅最集中的地方是大都市地区。
在未来几年里，我们预计 BBO 家庭的构成及其地理集中度将会扩大，这主要是由于正在推出许多举措，为服务不足的地区提供负担得起的、可靠的高速互联网接入。
On Sept. 22, 2022, for example, the Biden-Harris administration announced $502 million in loans and grants in the third funding round of the USDA’s ReConnect Program to provide rural residents and businesses in 20 states with high-speed internet access. In total, Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law provides $65 billion to expand affordable, high-speed internet to all communities across the U.S. And at a more local level, an array of counties, cities and towns are making similar commitments to deliver and expand broadband infrastructure, such as Kenosha, Wis., rural North Carolina 和 Whiteside County, Ill.
The increasing focus on new broadband infrastructure, coupled with Americans’ plans to increase their streaming usage in the coming year, serves as additional evidence that audiences will continue gravitating to over-the-top, digital content options, including sports—one of two genres that remains a fixture within traditional linear TV programming. Given the strong appetite for sports and news among BBO homes, combined with the significant audience engagement with the first TNF game on Amazon, it’s likely that streaming services will continue to expand by offering different genres that BBO viewers are clamoring for.
说明
- 尼尔森 NPOWER
- 仅使用宽带的家庭通过高速互联网连接接收电视节目
- 尼尔森本地电视测量 2022 年 7 月
A version of this article originally appeared on Streaming Media.
