New Report Explores Impact of Upcoming Sports Streamer

More than 40 percent of U.S. sports viewers are likely to subscribe to Venu Sports, the new streaming service from The Walt Disney Company, Warner Bros. Discovery and Fox Corporation, according to a study from Horowitz Research.

Interest in the new sports streamer is even higher among younger audiences; 58 percent of those in the 18-to-34 segment are interested in subscribing, and 57 percent of the 35-to-49 set. The findings are featured in Horowitz’s new State of Media, Entertainment & Tech: Viewing Behaviors 2024 report.

The study also indicates that the new platform, delivering linear networks and select D2C services from the three owners, may also impact subscriptions to other services. Of note, among likely subscribers, 38 percent said they would make changes to their subscriptions, namely canceling a virtual MVPD, pay-TV service or other streamer.

“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, executive VP and insights and strategy lead for Horowitz 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.”