With the Olympics and major soccer tournaments like the UEFA Euro 2024 and Copa América scheduled, many anticipated 2024 to be a big year for sports. In the U.S., fans (and brands) eagerly followed along—in person, watching live and across social media. 2024 also saw record U.S. viewership for annual sporting events and leagues, such as Super Bowl LVIII, featuring the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers, and women’s sports, especially the WNBA. To better understand the power of sports to connect fans, platforms and brands, we looked at some of the big trends that shaped the U.S. sports media landscape this year.
1.WNBA 刷新纪录
There’s been growing fan momentum around women’s sports for a few years now, and basketball has been at the center of it. The WNBA and Women’s College Basketball have both seen growing interest among U.S. adults this season. The WNBA has experienced the largest growth, with interest in the league increasing by 29% year-over-year according to 尼尔森粉丝洞察. As star athletes like Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese and Cameron Brink have made a name for themselves in college, excitement is clearly carrying over to the start of their professional careers this year.
迪斯尼频道和 ION 频道的 WNBA 常规赛平均收视人数为 942,000 人，比上一赛季增长了 201%。即使算上 NBA 电视转播的比赛，66 万观众的平均总收视率也明显高于往年。而与 2017 年联盟收视率的低点相比，2024 年的收视率增长了近 800%。
所有数据均为当日实时数据，仅限面板数据，到达率以一分钟限定值为基础。
在常规赛之外，7 月份举行的 WNBA 全明星赛吸引了 340 万观众，成为有史以来观看人数最多的比赛，明尼苏达山猫队和纽约自由队之间的总决赛在五场比赛中吸引了 1380 万独立观众。这是 25 年来收视率最高的总决赛系列赛。
While the league was already on an upward trajectory in terms of viewership, one has to wonder if the NIL (Name, image and likeness) era of college sports has helped super charge these young athletes’ social presence and increase interest in the game. The good news for brands looking to tap into and support this rise in popularity is that investments in women’s basketball can pay off. Compared to other sports fans, WNBA fans are much more likely to engage with a brand online, talk about the brand with friends and family and actually make purchases, and 60% of WNBA fans are likely to recommend a brand sponsor to others1.
2.NBCU 通过 2024 年巴黎夏季运动会确立了重大赛事报道的新标准
美国全国广播公司环球公司（NBCUniversal）对 2024 年巴黎夏季运动会的报道非常大，真的非常大。7000小时的报道和所有赛事在孔雀台的直播，为大型多项目比赛树立了新的标准。而且，它也得到了回报。与东京奥运会相比，NBC 的黄金时段报道增加了 13%，尽管这不是现场直播。
And, looking at our August 2024 Media Distributor Gauge, NBCUniversal added a stunning 3.9 share points compared to July thanks to its Olympic coverage. Peacock, meanwhile, saw a 39% bump in viewership and doubled its adult 35-49 audience month-over-month.
Publishers aren’t the only ones benefiting from sporting events such as the Olympics; the games are a powerful example of the impact that long-range sports partnerships can have on brand awareness. With a decades-long sponsorship of the Olympics, Visa saw 49% of U.S. consumers aware of its association with the sporting event in May 2024 ahead of the 2024 Paris Summer Games, a 12-point increase from 37% ahead of the Tokyo Games in 2021, according to 尼尔森粉丝洞察.
3.美职棒季后赛创六年新高
随着美国职业棒球大联盟常规赛的结束和季后赛的开始，球迷们看到了各种故事情节。处于劣势的纽约大都会队和底特律老虎队完成了非凡的逆转，成功晋级通卡轮。而洛杉矶道奇队和纽约洋基队则是两大联盟的头号种子队，拥有棒球界最耀眼的明星。
结果是：与 2023 年相比，季后赛每一轮的收视率都有所提高，其中分区赛的平均收视率达到了 2015 年以来的最高水平。大都会队和道奇队尤其引人注目。
最终，洋基队和道奇队自 1981 年以来首次在世界大赛中对决，重新点燃了比赛史上最大的竞争之一。除了传统，这场对决的主角还有美联和国联的 MVP 球员亚伦-贾奇（Aaron Judge）和大谷翔平（Shohei Ohtani），当然还有全美前两大电视市场。
The 2024 World Series’ average of 15.2 million viewers was the highest since 2017 and propelled the postseason as a whole to its best total since 2019. There’s no question, it was a win for Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery, and Fox, who shared carriage of the postseason. In Fox’s case, it helped propel them to a big October, in which they gained 1.1 share points in our Media Distributor Gauge.
直播+SD，仅限面板，只包括直播游戏
4.棒球和篮球的品牌商机无限
As viewers tuned in to baseball in record numbers, brands also benefited through sponsorships. In total, the top 10 most valuable sports sponsorship assets delivered almost $340 million in media value for brands in 2024, and all 10 opportunities in terms of sports sponsorship value came from either the MLB or the NBA. In particular, teams that make it to the finals can create significant media value for brands sponsoring them. The L.A. Dodgers, winners of the 2024 World Series, saw player jersey patch sponsorships and field-level branding earn top spots, while this year’s NBA Final winner the Boston Celtics ranked for on court branding.
这在很大程度上反映了 MLB 和 NBA 的赞助商由于比赛场次多而获得的广播时间，而 NFL 的赞助商由于比赛场次少而获得的广播时间。因此，MLB 球衣补丁和 NBA 球场标牌是体育界最有价值的团队合作项目。
5.流媒体在大型体育赛事中的份额越来越大
我们已经谈到了 Peacock 在 NBCU 报道 2024 年夏季奥运会中发挥的重要作用，但这也是体育直播向流媒体平台转移的大趋势的一部分。除了同步直播可能在广播或有线电视上播出的比赛外，越来越多的重大赛事都是通过流媒体独家直播的。
Prime Video’s coverage of NFL Thursday Night Football games is the standard bearer on this front, and it set the stage for the rights negotiations and programming strategies that came after it. Shortly after Amazon scored the exclusive rights to TNF, the NHL signed a new deal with Warner Bros. Discovery that included streaming rights for Max via its Bleacher Report sports add-on.
Peacock carried an exclusive Friday night NFL game from Brazil in week one of the current season. ESPN+ carried an exclusive Monday Night Football game in week seven. And Netflix scored the rights to stream the two NFL Christmas games this year and at least one over the next two seasons.
Last but certainly not least, the NBA signed its latest round of rights deals this summer, which includes an 11-year exclusive deal with Prime Video to stream 66 regular season games and all the knockout rounds from the league’s in-season tournament. And, notably, considering the first item on our list, the deal also includes an 11-year term to carry WNBA games starting in 2026.
Our recently accredited first party data methodology, part of the larger big data + panel solution, is primed to measure live streaming. Using that metric to look at Thursday Night Football this season, Prime Video is averaging 14.3 million viewers, up slightly from last year. And Peacock’s first exclusive game pulled in 14.0 million. It’s clear that sports on streaming is succeeding and can continue to do so.
6.足球在美国继续发展。
除了奥运会、体育版权转移以及今年体育界的所有其他炒作之外，今年对于美国本土世界最受欢迎的游戏来说也是值得注意的一年。
首先是在美国举行的首届 CONCACAF W 金杯赛，参赛队来自北美洲、南美洲和中美洲。美国女队最终在决赛中战胜了巴西队。大部分比赛都是独家流媒体直播（进一步证明了良好的流媒体直播衡量标准）。
之后的 6 月，又有两项重大赛事：美洲杯（Copa Amèrica）和欧洲杯（UEFA European Championship）。这是自 2021 年大流行后首次举办这两项赛事，也是前者第二次在美国举办。与之前的赛事相比，这两项赛事的观众总数都有所增加，其中美洲杯在福克斯和 Univision 电视网的收视率几乎翻了一番。欧洲杯由同样的频道转播，收视率增长了 29%。
虽然与四年一度的锦标赛相比，英格兰足球超级联赛的赌注可能要低一些，但它在美国观众心目中的地位却在缓慢而坚定地提高。到目前为止，本赛季是三年来增长趋势的最高点，虽然西班牙语报道的道路比较崎岖，但有迹象表明西班牙裔观众也在接受它。据报道，NBCU 正在推动一些比赛将来在美国进行，这将进一步提高观众的兴趣。
7.足球赢得美国观众的关注
As we saw last year, the NFL continues to dominate in terms of viewership in the U.S., with 519.4 billion minutes watched over the past year. And football continues to command some of the biggest sports programming moments in the U.S.
In fact, the NFL led viewership at the program level, with all top 10 U.S. sports programs comprising the 2023-2024 season NFL Super Bowl and playoff games. Super Bowl LVIII, featuring the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers, had the largest TV audience for a single-network telecast to date at 123.7 million viewers. Not only did the game go down to the wire in overtime to keep viewers engaged, it also saw hype leading up to the event with Usher headlining the halftime show and superstar Taylor Swift making an appearance to cheer on Chiefs’ tight end, Travis Kelce. So it’s not surprising that the game took the spot for most watched sports program in 2024.
This year’s big game also helped lift viewing in local markets, with February 2024 seeing 432.7 billion minutes across 56 local TV markets in the U.S.—that’s equivalent to 823,334 years spent watching TV. And despite their teams losing in the playoffs in January, residents of Houston and Buffalo respectively watched 9% and 31% more minutes of local TV during February 2024 compared to the same month in 2023.
8.明星助力球队的社交媒体价值
正如 "超级碗 "所展示的那样，明星拥有吸引观众的力量，包括在社交媒体上。今年，梅西（Lionel Messi）所在的国际迈阿密足球俱乐部（Inter Miami CF）再次荣登美国运动队社交媒体价值榜首。其他几支上榜球队也都拥有知名球员。拥有全球明星球员的球队通常会拥有更多的粉丝和更高的互动率。对于希望与体育团队合作的品牌来说，要找到合适的团队，还需要考虑球员的因素。
2024 年是体育的明星年。展望 2025 年，体育将继续成为与受众建立联系的重要方式。要成功做到这一点，就必须在受众观看的地方与他们见面，并为您的平台或品牌确定合适的联赛、球队和球员。
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