PORTSMOUTH, N.H.—As the number of outlets and platforms airing sports proliferates, sports fans not only have more ways to watch their favorite teams and leagues. They are also finding that following their favorite teams and sports is becoming increasingly complex and frustrating.
New data from Hub Entertainment Research’s “Evolution of Sports: What’s the Score?” Wave 5 study, which tracks how sports fans are adjusting to this changing landscape, finds that as sports rights spread across more services (broadcast, cable and streaming), just finding the game they want to watch has become a challenge for fans – one that is taking a toll on their overall experience.
It found that the vast majority of sports fans (87%) say it’s at least somewhat frustrating to figure out where to watch the sports they follow today, and almost a quarter saying they feel “very frustrated.”
Article continues below“Fans will go to great lengths to watch the sports they care about—but that doesn’t mean they enjoy hunting across multiple apps to find them,” said Jon Giegengack, principal at Hub and one of the study authors. “Services that simplify the experience of watching sports—whether through discovery tools or by consolidating rights to an entire sport—are delivering more value to fans. And more value means more satisfied users and lower churn.”
The study noted that some companies have already recognized this problem and rolled out features to make sports simpler to find. In the survey, Hub described two aggregator tools and asked fans if they would improve the viewing experience.
The results were positive. About 70% said that ESPN’s “Where to Watch” feature – which tells viewers where to find any game, even if it’s not on ESPN – would make their sports viewing experience easier. In addition, 60% said the same about Roku’s “Sports Zone” — an area of the Roku interface that gathers content about a particular sport into one place, so fans can easily find all of it across platforms.
The data also showed that "All-inclusive” rights attract subscribers and drive satisfaction.
Fragmentation is increasing the appeal of platforms that consolidate rights to an entire sport. Three in five fans (60%) say they’re more likely to sign up for a service that carries *all* the rights to a sport they follow (and 30% are “much more likely”).
Among avid fans, the results are even more pronounced: almost 40% are “much more likely” to sign up.
Exclusive rights can drive both acquisition and retention, the researchers also noted.
In an increasingly crowded ecosystem, investing in all-inclusive rights is a differentiator that makes a big difference. For example, Hub asked UFC fans about the organization’s new rights deal, which will place all UFC events—including numbered pay-per-views—across Paramount’s networks and streaming platforms.
The vast majority (89%) of avid UFC fans say the new deal makes a Paramount+ subscription more valuable (and a third say it’s “extremely” more valuable). In addition, 93% of avid UFC fans that already have Paramount+ say the new deal makes them more likely to keep their subscription (and 71% say it makes them “much more likely”).
Among avid UFC fans who "don’t" have Paramount+ already, 72% say they’re more likely to sign up (and almost a third % said they would “definitely” sign up).
These findings come from Hub’s “Evolution of Sports: What’s the Score?” Wave 5 report, based on a survey of 3,733 U.S. sports fans conducted in December 2025 – January 2026.
Since 2013, Hub Entertainment Research has measured and tracked how technology changes the ways consumers discover, choose and consume entertainment content. More information is available here: hubintel.substack.com.
