DALLAS—Sports content continues to dominate the growing live streaming space, with three out of five (61%) people who live streamed programming in the last three months saying they live streamed sports content, according to a new study from Parks Associates.
The proportion is even high among those who subscribe to an OTT sports service, with 78% saying they live streamed sports in the last three months.
Live streamed sports also outpaced other forms of content, with only 36% of the live streamers saying they streamed news content, the second most popular genre.
Overall, however, a little more than two of five (43%) U.S. internet households live streamed content in the last three months.
“Consumers who subscribe to online sports services or those who subscribe to a premium pay-TV sports package are more likely to livestream,” said Paul Erickson, director of research, Parks Associates. “Right now, sports content is key to drawing and keeping an engaged livestream viewer base. Even with content that benefits from live consumption – such as news and concerts – significantly fewer consumers are livestreaming this content compared to sports. The sports audience is significantly more engaged in live streaming as a whole.”
The report also found that consumers who regularly livestream content are engaged users. For many, live streamed content is their primary content consumption. Consumers who livestream estimate that live online content comprises close to half of their total online video consumption. Among heavy livestream viewers, on-demand content comprises just over one-quarter of their online video consumption.
“Offering live streaming content is an opportunity for services to draw both the highly engaged heavy livestreaming audience and livestream-centric older audiences,” Erickson said. “Consumers in the higher age brackets can be difficult to target, but livestreaming is one option that appeals to them, provided the provider delivers the right content.”
For more information on “Quantified Consumer: Livestreaming: The Next Hot Video Market” report, contact sales@parksassociates.com.
