WILMINGTON, Del.—As the world of television sports continues to evolve, sports fans are increasingly turning to streaming via digital platforms, and parting ways with traditional broadcast and cable. But streaming services must deal with technical issues such as latency and buffering, as over half (57%) of sports viewers face challenges when streaming sports.
This is according to a new paper released by InterDigital, a wireless video and AI technology research and development company, and research firm Parks Associates. The report, “Streaming Live Sports: Where Opportunity Meets Complexity”, reveals how streaming infrastructure must evolve in line with changing consumer viewing habits, especially with streaming players increasingly paying for sports broadcasting rights.
The paper, titled “Streaming Live Sports: Where Opportunity Meets Complexity,” explores how people consume live sports entertainment, from broadcast to subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) services, direct-to-consumer (D2C) subscription models, pay-per-view, and paywall systems. It also covers the pain points viewers are facing and how the streaming ecosystem can keep up with demand.
With streaming subscriptions on the rise and cord cutting continuing, there are distinct viewing habits emerging among different demographics:
- 42% of US internet households paid for a traditional pay TV service in Q1 2025, down from 62% in Q1 2020.
- Over half (55%) of SVOD households subscribe to five or more SVOD services.
- Sports fans are among the most valuable viewers, spending an average of $88 per month on streaming services, compared with $64 per month by those who don’t watch sports.
- Two-fifths (40%) of sports viewers under 35 watch sports on social media platforms, compared to just 13% of those aged 55+.
- More female sports fans than men stream sports exclusively (49% vs 42%).
- 32% of sports viewers find placing bets in a streaming service attractive (spiking to 57% of sports viewers aged 25-44).
More than half (57%) of sports viewers face challenges when viewing live sports, including nearly a third (30%) highlighting that they did not subscribe to a streaming service airing a sporting event they had planned or wanted to watch. Other more technical challenges that viewers face include buffering and overall image quality. Specific challenges viewers cited include:
- Almost one in five (18%) sports viewers reported poor quality video from a streaming service.
- Just under a third (31%) of sports viewers aged 18-24 cited poor video quality (freezing, buffering, etc.), insufficient bandwidth for high quality streaming (25%), and lag (20%) as common problems when streaming sports.
- Poor video quality is a particular problem for younger age groups who enjoy interactivity while watching sports, such as multi-view and in-game stats.
Poor video quality is increasingly impacting the sports viewing experience, and the paper argues that one solution is more efficient video codecs. For example, HEVC is well-suited for high-resolution content like 4K, where its compression efficiency helps reduce file sizes and improves bandwidth usage.
Sports viewers should not have to deal with technical issues when watching their favorite sports teams."
Lionel Oisel, InterDigital
It is also designed to handle the increased data demands of HDR video, which expands the range of colors and contrast in video. H.266 (VVC) is a next-generation solution to these challenges, offering even higher compression efficiency, improved video quality, and support for ultra-high resolutions particularly suited to streaming high-resolution content over mobile networks and broadcasting in ultra-high definition.
“Sports viewers should not have to deal with technical issues when watching their favorite sports teams. The broadcast and streaming ecosystem needs to work together to alleviate pain points or risk damaging their reputation for future events,” said Lionel Oisel, Head of Video Labs, at InterDigital. “While streaming services need to think holistically about the challenges that come with live video streams, more advanced video codecs can significantly reduce buffering and latency and improve the overall user experience.”
“The sports media landscape is transforming, as sports programming transitions from traditional broadcast and cable networks to streaming,” said Michael Goodman, Senior Analyst, Parks Associates. “Sports fans now have more ways than ever to engage with their favorite teams or sports. Many niche sports and out-of-market matches, previously unavailable, are now easily accessible, which can expand the sports audience, and providers have new opportunities to engage viewers in interactive activities, such as multicasts, live chats, and in-game betting, provided the experience is easy and seamless.”
The full report, “Streaming Live Sports: Where Opportunity Meets Complexity,” is available to download here.
