Despite doomsday reports of people snipping the cable cord, a new study shows sports fans are still turning to traditional live TV to watch games and that younger demographics are using mobile phones as a way to complement — rather than replace — the TV viewing experience.
In a poll of 1,000 American adults conducted via cellular and landline phones by researchers at UMass Lowell and the Washington Post the last week of August, 86 percent of sports fans said they watched games or highlights on TV in the last 12 months.
That includes millennials, a demographic that has been leading the switch from traditional cable packages to streaming services, with 89 percent of people aged 18 to 39 saying they watched sports on TV in the past year. Of the fans between 40 and 64, 85 percent said they’ve watched games or highlights on live TV over that time.
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Younger fans, however, are more likely than older generations to use mobile technology to expand their access to sports. While 35 percent of all sports fans said they watched games or game highlights on their smartphones in the past year and 51 percent of all fans said they’ve checked game scores online, those numbers balloon to 55 percent and 67 percent when accounting just the fans who are under 40 years old.
In the same vein, younger fans are far more likely to follow athletes on social media, with 44 percent of those under the age of 40 saying they use Facebook, Twitter and other platforms (think: Instagram) to follow athletes. That compares with just 23 percent of those age 40 to 64.
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“The survey findings suggest that young people are not turning away from watching sports on live television or attending live events,” said Prof. Joshua Dyck, co-director of the UMass Lowell Center for Public Opinion. “Rather, they are using technology to diversify how they watch and get information about sports.”
The study underscores why traditional cable companies, such as ESPN and CBS, continue to invest in supplemental streaming experiences to complement their traditional offerings, but why executives at CBS say they don’t view internet companies, such as Amazon, as competitors just yet.
Milliennials are also slightly more likely to go to games live in person, according to the poll. Of the respondents between 18 and 39, 51% said they attended a game in person over the past year compared with 45% of those aged between 40 and 64.