Almost half of urban Indians use streaming platforms for sports content: Report

Watching live sports on a TV channel (36%) and watching live streamed video content online on YouTube, etc. (35%) are the next most preferred ways to watch sports among urban Indian residents, data from a study conducted online by market research firm YouGov showed.

Titled ‘The Global Sports Media Landscape’, the study said that just over two-thirds of global consumers, about 67%, followed sports on a regular basis, in the last 30 days, via various media platforms.

In terms of the data by country, Indonesia and the UAE have the highest proportion of ‘sport engagers’ (89% each), defined as those who engage with sports they regularly follow, in the last 30 days, across any traditional and digital media platforms or formats.

India is not far behind, and more than four in five or 85% urban Indians claim they follow sports on a regular basis across various media platforms. Comparatively, European countries and America register lower levels of engagement.

In terms of how consumers engage with the sports they regularly follow, the country said that live TV is the preferred method in 12 out of the 18 markets surveyed. Live sports on TV dominates in the more traditional European markets along with North America (the US, Mexico, and Canada), while social media occupies pole position in all Asian countries.

Adults between 35 and 44 years were more likely to say they consume sports content on social media (at 46%), while those over 55 were more likely to claim they watch it live on TV (50%).

An examination of their streaming behaviour shows that nearly half of urban Indians (45%) claim they have subscribed to a sports platform or service to gain access to exclusive sports content, more than those who haven’t (39%). 

Sports-led subscriptions enhance the level of sports consumption among users. In fact, more than three-quarters of urban Indians (77%) report that their sports content subscription has encouraged them to consume more sports content with around a fifth (18%) maintaining their current levels of sports viewership.

In the area of digital sports streaming and content, cricket is the most popular sport – with a large majority of Indian sports subscribers accessing cricket content (72%). The next most popular sport among urban Indian sport subscribers is soccer (40%) and tennis (32%).

When asked if they would be interested in watching lifestyle focussed sports content (such as the Last Dance on Netflix), 45% urban Indians said they are very or somewhat interested in that. Interest is higher among young adults between 25 and 34 years, where three in ten claim they are very interested in watching lifestyle-focussed sports content.