Being a sports fan is not what it used to be. The confluence of sports and entertainment and the fragmentation of media and fandom are opening up a wide swath of opportunities for leagues, teams, fans and brands.
The sports economy is now more global, diverse and fan-driven than ever, said Jon Stainer, global GM of Nielsen Sports. New demographics are growing interest in established sports, while emerging sports are building new fan bases. Meanwhile, the leagues and teams are working with an expanding assortment of media platforms to innovate viewing formats and make them more accessible to those fans. This is all translating into new opportunities for brands that can tap into a new fandom wanting to engage in a more interactive way, says Stainer.
“The combination of access, events and ownership is really driving that globalization,” said Stainer.
Access to sports events has expanded, along with the growth in streaming and social media sharing, Stainer explained. For example, NBC Peacock has created a new viewing window by showing the UK‘s Premier League soccer on weekend mornings in the U.S., while Major League Soccer’s deal with streamer Apple+ has made U.S. professional soccer available abroad.
A second, related trend is the expansion of events that bring U.S. leagues to play overseas, such as the NFL’s International Games, where this year the LA Chargers will play an early-season game in Rio, Brazil. Conversely, the Premier League has now established a preseason Summer Series of games where famous clubs such as Manchester United play pre-season matches in U.S. stadiums.
Ownership changes are consolidating this evolution, said Stainer. About half the Premier League teams have U.S. ownership now, and both Silicon Valley and Indian investors are deep into English cricket, he noted.
The Hulu reality show “Welcome to Wrexham,” where the actor Ryan Reynolds and a group of investors took over a struggling English soccer team, is an example of both the ownership shift and another trend also reshaping sports marketing: the confluence of sport and entertainment. Shows like Apple’s “Ted Lasso” and Netflix’s “Formula One: Drive to Survive” are prime examples.
The Transformation of Sport
“We’re opening up these younger, diverse and affluent audiences through the internationalization of the sport,” said Stainer. The change in soccer viewership in the U.S. is a case in point, he said: Nielsen Fan Insights research shows 76% of U.S. soccer fans are Millennials or Gen Z, 22% of the US soccer audience is Hispanic and 34% earn $100,000 or more in household income annually.
The fandom is also more immersive and interactive today than cheering on the home team at a stadium or in front of the TV. While those activities are still a big part of sports fandom, demand for experiential activity is growing, and fans are congregating around social platforms, streaming and other channels that require attention, said Stainer.
“There’s a ton more opportunities in reaching consumers and sports fans these days, and the leagues are really thinking about: How do they meet fans around where they congregate?” said Stainer. “That offers up new opportunities for brand partnerships and brand activations, as well. So it’s a really exciting space, watching this develop and evolve.”
A number of emerging sports, such as flag football and pickleball are gaining traction with fans and show promise. Additionally, new leagues are also developing to expand play in popular sports, such as golf and soccer. Stainer noted the Kings League, a three-year-old soccer league owned by former soccer star Gerard Piquet, uses a seven-side format that is popular with the public and it’s surrounded by celebrity appeal (Piquet is the singer Shakira’s former partner).
Women’s sports have also emerged to capture a growing share of attention and sponsorships. Stainer noted the WNBA fan base has grown more than 31% to 47 million fans in the U.S. and viewership in 2024 was up 201% versus the prior year.
“We’re seeing a lot of opportunity in the women’s space, as media fragmentation has actually enabled more access to women’s sports,” he said. “That’s a really exciting space to follow.”
Some brands are making “really smart moves in that space,” said Stainer. He singled out Pepsi for its support of European women’s soccer, “They’re making a real play and investing in how they support the growth of soccer moving forward,” he said.
“It’s just opening up new opportunities for brands to be involved,” said Stainer. He noted how the leather goods brand Coach signed to be official handbag partner of the WNBA, because it understood fans of the sport were also a good fit for a luxury brand.
“This is a very exciting and dynamic space,” said Stainer. “There are a lot more opportunities for brands to seek out new opportunities in the women’s space, beyond the more traditional sponsorships that sit in the men’s sports space.”
New Sports, New Opportunities
Leagues and media are taking those opportunities to heart, with publishers deploying multiplatform strategies to meet those audiences where they are, said Stainer. He noted that, in its most recent rights cycle, Germany’s Bundesliga soccer league awarded some of its UK rights to YouTube channels.
Sports rights have been seeing increased prices in recent years, since live sports content stands out across fragmented media. The trend is bound to continue, said Stainer, but leagues will also seek to carve out segments of rights, to spread their exposure across linear TV, streaming and other platforms. The NFL has led the way with carve-outs for Christmas Day games on Netflix and its Thursday night games on Amazon Prime; others are bound to follow and carve out the rights to milestone games, in order to create more excitement and engagement, said Stainer.
Publishers and leagues are also rethinking how they present sports to attract new fans. Stainer noted how the new TGL golf tour miked players, so viewers could hear game play in real time. It provided a more immersive experience that worked to attract new fans: Nielsen ratings showed that 32% of TGL viewers in the prized 18-to-34 age group were not regular PGA Tour viewers, he said.
It’s not a matter of leagues and teams surrendering control to players and fans, but creating opportunities for conversations between leagues, media, social platforms, and the players and the teams themselves, Stainer explained: “That has become a very dynamic and exciting space.”
The leagues are partnering with creators and facilitating more personalized interactions, said Stainer. For example, he noted how the NBA launched NBA ID, a global membership program that includes personalized content, while the NFL works with over 50 domestic and international creators to film social media content, including game experiences.
“We just have this explosion of content around sports, driven by the fragmentation and the increase in the platforms that are disseminating this content,” said Stainer. “I do see this as a really, really interesting moment for the sports and media industry and a big moment for growth – on the media side, but also on the brand, advertiser and partnership side.”
