• by Jon Last , Columnist, August 13, 2024

As we move to the end of another summer that went too quickly, I continue to reflect on two themes that have disproportionately occupied my thinking of late—the growing generational divide in consumer demand for sports consumption, and the shift toward pay-per-view streaming.  To repeat a comment I last made in April, there’s a growing divide between how younger and older fans are looking to access sports content.

While sports fans continue to express frustration with the often disjointed platforms from which content is presently accessed, rights fee holders can perhaps rejoice in recent findings about the acceptability of their shifting economic model.

Give it to me quick and in small doses

The advent of VCRs decades ago began to erode the trend for live sports to be appointment television.  Now we are seeing the values of “the attention-deficit generations” become most prevalent.  Our research shows that particularly for fans under the age of 45, streaming highlights is the preferred sports consumption pattern.  That’s a vast contrast to older fans who still want to watch the entire game.

Demand for OTT viewing eclipses broadcast

Similarly, when we asked sports fans whether they would rather stream sporting events than watch them on broadcast television, nearly 60% of those aged 44 and younger agreed. The results were nearly opposite for those age 45+.  And more than two thirds of fans age 65+ said they’d rather watch sporting events on broadcast television than stream them.

You’ll get what you pay for

Perhaps most intriguing is the willingness of the younger generations of fans to pay to watch their favorite sporting events outside of the live in-person venue.  Again, it looks like age 45 is the tipping point.  Nearly 60% of those in the younger age cohorts say they were prepared to pay a subscription fee to access sports content -- while the older generations felt quite differently.

The phenomenon makes intuitive sense.  For those of us whose fan journey began three or more decades ago, it’s tough to put the genie back in the bottle. A question still to be answered is, will we ultimately cave -- and will broadcast rights holders and advertisers care?

I’d maintain that they should. Last I checked, it was still the resistant, over-age-45 set that controlled the bulk of the buying power, particularly among categories that continue to lean heavily into sports coverage to reach what remains an elusive affluent male audience.  We are in the midst of a 20-year period witnessing the largest inter-generational wealth transfer in the history of our country: $74 trillion, the bulk of which will accrue to the youngest boomers and Generation X.  These sports fans came of age paying for a consolidated sports package on cable, or watching on broadcast television.