• by Wayne Friedman , December 11, 2019

Although consumers are increasingly viewing sports content via digital streaming services, completion rates for sports programming on digital devices are low compared to those for traditional platforms.

A study from video technology company Brightcove says completion rates for sports content are around 42% -- the lowest of any device.

The analysis shows that mobile devices for sports are used primarily in short periods -- to watch highlights and check out scores. The research also says the most digital sports content views are on mobile devices.

Consuming sports content on laptops/desktop computers yields somewhat better results -- with a 60% completion rate.

While sports content is growing on connected TV, it makes up less than 1% of all sports video views. In more positive results, are that connected TV has nearly 70% completion rate of sports content -- the highest among all digital devices.

Research says in the third-quarter streaming sports views on smartphones rose 46% year-over-year, with connected TVs climbing at 34%, and tablets rising 31%.

The study quoted research from the USC’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism which said 63% of sports fans are willing to pay for an all-sports channel, with 56% saying they’d pay more for a streaming channel than their current pay-TV sports service.

Brightcove says its report reflects the anonymized, aggregated, online video metrics of Brightcove customers, a collective audience of hundreds of millions of viewers.