Sports is by far the dominant genre of
content watched by livestreamers, a new Parks Associates report confirms.
Forty-three percent of U.S. internet households have livestreamed online content, and 61% of them report
recently watching a live sporting event online.
The No. 2 genre, newscasts, came in far behind — recently watched by 36% of livestreamers.
Concerts and other events
that benefit from live consumption also engage significantly fewer livestreaming consumers than sports.
Further, 78% of those who subscribe to an OTT sports service have livestreamed, as
opposed to just one-quarter of those who do not subscribe to an OTT sports service.
Currently, “sports content is key to drawing and keeping an engaged livestream viewer base,”
says Paul Erickson, Parks’ director of research. “Consumers who subscribe to online sports services or those who subscribe to a premium pay-TV sports package are more likely to livestream.
The sports audience is significantly more engaged in livestreaming as a whole.”
Consumers who regularly livestream content are engaged users.
In fact, consumers who
livestream estimate that live online content accounts for close to half of their total online video consumption.
Among heavy livestream viewers, on-demand content comprises just over
one-quarter of online video consumption.
Livestreaming also provides a channel for reaching older audiences.
“Consumers in the higher age brackets can be difficult to target, but
livestreaming is one option that appeals to them, provided the provider delivers the right content,” points out Erickson.
The report is called "Quantify Consumer: Livestreaming, The Next
Hot Video Market."