In today’s crowded media landscape where attention is hard-won and harder kept, sports continue to shatter viewership records delivering millions of highly engaged fans year after year. In fact, sports accounted for 96% of the most-watched programming in 2025.
Sports bring in loyal audiences who tend to tune in regardless of how their favorite team is faring. And with its continued expansion into streaming, sports fans have more opportunity to engage with the content they enjoy.
Live sports keep audiences on the edge of their seats all year long. In fact, around 88% of Comcast households watch live sports throughout the year, and these households spend an average of 23 hours per month watching live sports.
Women’s sports have experienced a major surge in popularity over the last few years, and with its record-breaking viewership comes the ripe opportunity to connect with engaged audiences. 60% of sports fans said they would like to see more media exposure for women’s sports highlighting the major interest from viewers.
Across the industry, advertisers look to sports programming to reach a live, engaged audience on television. Studies have shown that campaigns...
For decades, marketers have turned to men’s sports to reach and engage consumers. In 1941, the first paid TV advertisement in the U.S. was before a men’s baseball game, and the industry never looked back. Until now.
While viewers can typically find sports content throughout the year, fall sports have viewers glued to their TV screens every week – with 58% of sports impressions in 2024 generated in the fall. Most people think of the NFL when they hear fall sports, but it goes beyond that, with college sports accounting for 61% of sports viewership in the U.S..
Effectv analysis of sports fandom reveals fans prefer to watch live sports events on a screen and have positive perceptions of ads shown during sports programming
Sports advertising helps agencies, big or small, beat market fragmentation and harness the reach of live sporting events to make their clients’ brands stand out among sports fans, one of the most diverse and passionate audiences in today’s media landscape.
