Sports Fans Becoming Increasingly Frustrated Finding Games

A new study from Hub Entertainment Research indicates that sports fans are becoming increasingly frustrated trying to find games as sports rights continue to be spread across more services.

Of those surveyed, 97 percent say it is at least somewhat frustrating to figure out where to watch the sports they follow today, and almost a quarter say they feel “very frustrated.”

Some companies have already taken note of the problem and begun to roll out aggregator tools to make discovery easier. 70 percent of those surveyed say 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. 60 percent said the same about Roku’s Sports Zone, an area of the Roku interface that gathers content about a particular sport into one place.

Platforms that consolidate rights to an entire sport are very appealing to sports fans. 60 percent say they are more likely to sign up for a service that carries all the rights to a sport they follow, and 30 percent are “much more likely.” Among avid sports fans, the results are even more pronounced—almost 40 percent say they are much more likely to sign up.

Exclusive rights can drive both acquisition and retention. Hub Entertainment Research asked UFC fans about the organization’s new rights deal, which places all UFC events across Paramount’s networks and platforms. 89 percent of avid UFC fans say the new deal makes a Paramount+ subscription more valuable, and a third say it’s “extremely” more valuable. 93 percent of avid UFC fans that already have Paramount+ say the new deal makes them more likely to keep their subscription, and 71 percent say it makes them much more likely to do so. Among those who don’t already have Paramount+, 72 percent say they’re more likely to sign up, and almost a third say they would definitely sign up.

“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.”