• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, September 17, 2012

From true fanatics to casual viewers, TV remains the dominant channel through which consumers get their sports fix.
 
One-half -- 49.8% -- of all sports fans say the television is still their primary source for sports information, according to a recent survey of 950 U.S. online adults by Burst Media.
 
Still, more than a quarter -- 26.5% -- now cite content Web sites as their main connection to sports.
 
Interestingly, among all sports fans, the divide between television and content sites is reduced significantly -- by 17.4% -- when it comes to which medium respondents say is the best for sports news and information, versus what they indicated was their primary medium.

In fact, two-fifths -- 41.3% -- say TV is the best medium, while 35.4% say content sites are the best.
 
What’s more, one third -- 35.1% -- of all sports fans report going online at least once per day for sports-related reasons, with far more devoted fans -- 66.8% -- making their daily pilgrimage to the Web.
 
In the social media realm, one-third -- 34.7% -- of 18- to-34-year-olds frequently or very frequently use social media to comment on, tweet/retweet, share or link to online sports content and video.
 
Only 15.2% of 35- to-54-year-olds -- and 2.5% of those age 55 or older -- say they engage in the same social activity.
 
Tablets and smartphones are emerging as sports content consumption platforms, as 31.6% of all sports fans now report using tablets, and 45.7% report using smartphones to access online sports content and video.
 
Sports fans are also tablet and smartphone multitaskers, as one-third -- 35.7% -- say they use tablets and/or smartphones to access online sports content while watching sports on television.
 
Devoted sports fans are overwhelmingly -- 79.0% -- male, while the gender breakdown among casual fans is evenly split. Spanning socioeconomic categories, one half -- 50.6% -- of all devoted fans have at least a college degree, while 43.7 reside in high-income households.