• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, 3 hours ago

Sports program discovery -- like that of overall TV/streaming discovery -- continues to be a challenge for TV viewers, according to Reviews.org.

Nearly half (45%) of viewers say they “struggle” to find a channel or streaming service for a specific game or to watch their favorite team, while 53% say they have missed a game because they didn’t have the TV/streaming subscription needed to view that programming.

More frustrated fans say they have turned to “unauthorized” broadcasts to get their sports programming, at 27%. The authors of the study did not provide specific details.

The research comes from a survey of 1,000 U.S. adults in January 2026 -- a stratified sampling to ensure a nationally representative sample. The report focuses on the 882 respondents who identify as active sports viewers.

In addition, 75% of overall respondents say it has become too expensive to watch sports.

The report goes on to say 47% of U.S. viewers tune into virtual pay TV providers -- including YouTube TV, Sling TV, Hulu + Live TV -- when it comes to their sports viewing, with only a third relying on traditional cable and satellite distributors.

To access sports content, sports TV viewers spend an estimated average of $122.93 per household -- $79.80 per month on broad-based traditional pay TV services (cable, streaming, virtual) and another average $43.13 per month for on-demand streaming platforms.

The leading most-"followed" sports leagues, according to the report, are the NFL at 68%, followed by the NBA at 55%, Major League Baseball (54%); NCAA college football (41%) and NCAA college basketball (31%).