Julia Stoll
Research expert covering TV and video media
Sports streaming in the United States - statistics & facts
Live sports programming attracts millions of U.S. viewers every year, occupying the first spots of the most watched shows in the United States. Sporting events are often linked to traditional cable networks, as they own the rights to the most popular sports leagues, such as the National Football League (NFL) or the National Basketball Association (NBA). However, streaming services increasingly saw the potential in recent years and grew their spending on sports rights worldwide, with ESPN Unlimited, Apple TV+, and Netflix being the latest options entering the sports broadcasting industry.聽
On-demand services increase their sports coverage
Amazon Prime Video, ESPN Select (formerly ESPN+), Peacock, and YouTube TV are currently the聽most popular streaming apps in the U.S. to watch sports. While Peacock and ESPN Select have been essential to consumers watching live games and events for several years, more and more large media companies recently jumped on the bandwagon and now provide live sports via their streaming services. Between 2026 and 2028, Netflix, for example, will spend 35 million U.S. dollars per year on the rights to broadcast selected Major League Baseball (MLB) games. Amazon鈥檚 sports coverage, on the other hand, includes the NFL games on Thursdays branded as 鈥淭hursday Night Football鈥 (TNF) on Prime Video. This move has been crowned with success 鈥 the聽streaming viewership of TNF grew by nearly six million between the 2022 and 2025 seasons, with the event gaining traction across all age groups. As American football is the most watched sport on TV in the U.S., it is not surprising that also Netflix entered the sports broadcasting business and provides the professional American football league on Christmas.
Most streamed sports
The Super Bowl 鈥 the yearly championship game of the NFL 鈥 remains the undisputed winner among sporting events in terms of TV audience in the United States. The number of streaming viewers surged recently, with a new survey finding that the online medium outpaced cable TV as the leading way to tune into the game. Other upcoming sporting events are also popular among streaming viewers. Nearly two in three Americans plan to watch the 2026 Winter Olympics via live streaming, compared to half of cable TV consumers. However, while streaming providers are seeing an uptick in聽time spent watching sporting events, cable, satellite, and antenna still dominate sports consumption overall.
With the enthusiasm for sports remaining high among American consumers, the integration of this content into streaming has opened up new avenues for viewer engagement. Despite traditional TV still belonging to the go-to platforms for major events, the overall trend suggests that sports fans are adapting to the streaming era, driven by the desire to access exclusive games and the promise of expanded offerings on these services.
