Conviva: Sports Streaming Surged in June

As Bundesliga, La Liga, Premier League and Serie A returned last month, sports streaming surged across Europe, according to Conviva.

With sports on hold in March and April, time watching sports programming fell to historic lows, but as leagues returned last month viewership levels returned to pre-COVID-19 levels, Conviva reports. Indeed, sports viewing time was 24 percent higher at the end of June than the baseline set in the first week of March.

Meanwhile, entertainment viewing, which was up 65 percent in early April, has since fallen as sports viewing rose. News consumption, which was up 180 percent in mid-April, dipped slightly but is double what it was pre-COVID. Sports has returned to about 30 percent of viewing time, up from 2 percent at the height of the pandemic.

“If Europe is indicative of what the return of sport will look like worldwide, sport broadcasters should take solace as viewers can’t watch enough,” Conviva says. “Streaming and social media are both obvious winners in the return of sport, with more heights to reach as leagues around the world schedule returns in the coming months.”