NEW ROCHELLE, NY—Venu Sports, the new sports streaming bundle from Disney, Fox and WBD expected to launch later this year, could attract more than 4 in 10 sports viewers (18+) according to a new report from Horowitz Research.
Horowitz says 42% of respondents to its "State of Media, Entertainment & Tech: Viewing Behaviors 2024" survey conducted March-April 2024 among 2,008 content viewers 18+, said they would likely subscribe to Venu Sports when it becomes available.
The Horowitz study also finds that the new live streaming service may impact subscriptions to other services. For instance, among sports viewers who are likely to subscribe, nearly 4 in 10 (38%) say they would make changes to their subscriptions. Cancelling their virtual MVPD service is the most mentioned change these viewers would make. Sports viewers indicated that they may also consider cancelling some of their other subscription streaming services and MVPD (traditional cable/satellite) service.
Another recent survey noted that 39% are at least “moderately likely” to cancel their pay TV service in favor of Venu Sports. The subscription price has yet to be announced, but the Wall St. Journal speculates that it will come in at approximately $30-$40 per month.
As part of a sports streaming bundle, Venu Sports will offer live coverage from ESPN and other linear sports networks in a joint venture between Disney, Fox, and Warner Bros. Discovery. Compared to their older counterparts (23%), younger sports viewers (18-34 and 35-49 year-olds, 58% and 57% respectively) are more than twice as likely to subscribe to the new streaming service, according to Horowitz Research’s latest annual report, State of Media, Entertainment & Tech: Viewing Behaviors 2024.
In addition, half of Latine (53%) and Black (50%) sports viewers over-index for likely subscriptions, in comparison to their Asian (40%) and White, non-Hispanic (39%) counterparts.
“Being able to watch live sports has long been an incentive for sports fans to keep their subscriptions to MVPD and vMVPD services,” notes Adriana Waterston, EVP and Insights & Strategy Lead for Horowitz Research, a division of M/A/R/C Research. “This new service will certainly be a game changer – pun intended – that will further disrupt the media ecosystem and make retention even more of a challenge for all players.”
The full State of Media, Entertainment & Tech: Viewing Behaviors 2024 study explores viewing behaviors in the complex media landscape. The report examines share of viewing per platform, the devices they’re watching on, the kind of content they’re consuming, and which services they feel do the best job at delivering the content they seek.
This year, the study does a deep dive on consumer relationships with FAST services. The survey was conducted in March - April 2024 among 2,008 TV content viewers 18+. Data have been weighted to ensure results are representative of the overall TV universe. The report is available in total market, FOCUS Latinx, FOCUS Black, and FOCUS Asian editions.
