• by Jon Last , Columnist, Today

In a variety of studies, fans aiming to easily locate their favorite teams and events appear to be frustrated by the migration of sports coverage to a dizzying array of streaming options. Long gone are the days when they could reliably turn to the broadcast networks or a local affiliate to catch essential sporting events. 

Qualitatively and quantitatively, we’ve seen discord not only about the challenges in finding what fans are looking for -- but also the pay walls that have demonstrably increased the cost of watching games in real time.

The rise of streaming services has of course increased competition for rights fees while enriching properties. But there’s legitimate concern that in many instances, the fan is being left behind.  Congress has gotten involved with recently held hearings, issuing an interim staff report questioning whether the fragmentation brought about by sports streaming services is in violation of the original 1961 Sports Broadcasting Act -- which granted leagues with antitrust exemptions in exchange for making content accessible on free, over-the-air television.

Beyond the financial implications, customers increasingly voiced concerns about ease of access.  In earlier research, we found that fans enjoy -- and in many cases, prefer -- the ability to watch highlights, rather than complete games, but that sentiment is more prevalent among younger generations. For rights holders typically more focused on these time-constrained digital natives, this trend has informed content development and driven a greater intergenerational divide. 

Research we conducted just last month showed that younger generations were feeling more disenfranchised by the migration of sports coverage to streaming services.  Less than half overall strongly agreed that it was easy to watch “the sports events that I care about most.”  This challenge was interestingly more acute among those same younger cohorts, perhaps as much a statement about subscription costs than about accessibility.  

A critical success factor going forward could be the ability to create better curation of sports content.  In addition to the coverage fragmentation that streaming solutions present, we’ve heard numerous respondents say they’re frustrated trying to easily navigate across events during a viewing.  Fans say they channel-surf as a way to consume multiple games at a time.  Particularly with the growing prevalence of sports betting and fantasy teams, the ability to watch key moments across games simultaneously has become more important.  The NFL Red Zone channel currently addresses that need -- and the fan base would widely embrace similar solutions across the sports ecosystem.