{"id":7843715,"date":"2025-09-17T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-09-17T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thewrap.com\/?p=7843715"},"modified":"2025-09-25T06:56:35","modified_gmt":"2025-09-25T13:56:35","slug":"how-tech-is-changing-sports-viewership-and-fandom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thewrap.com\/how-tech-is-changing-sports-viewership-and-fandom\/","title":{"rendered":"How Tech Is Changing Sports Viewership and Fandom"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n

This is the fifth in a series from TheWrap exploring how sports is transforming the entertainment business.<\/em> Read our previous story here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s Tuesday morning, say. Last night’s Monday Night Football win by the Los Angeles Chargers finished the week\u2019s worth of football games, but the rush for sports fans is far from over. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Your dad texted you to gloat over his fantasy football win over the weekend thanks to a stellar performance by Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson. Your buddy sent you a Venmo request for the bet you lost after Georgia’s overtime win over Tennessee. And a new podcast episode of “New Heights” with the Kelce brothers drops on Wednesday, just in time for you to rejigger your fantasy roster for the week ahead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sports viewership is no longer just appointment television. It is a 24\/7 entertainment ecosystem and, for many, a full-time commitment. Whether you tune in for the game at kickoff or catch the social clips on House of Highlights, watching sports has extended far beyond posting up on the couch for a weekend afternoon viewing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In a world where attention spans are shrinking and entertainment alternatives are everywhere, leagues, teams and networks have had to adapt their strategies to cater to fans\u2019 changing needs and embrace technology in an unprecedented way. Fans follow athletes on social media to get a daily dose of their favorite stars. XR \u2014 or mixed reality \u2014 immersive experiences allow fans to experience the game like never before. And gambling and gamification of the fan experience taps into the already addictive second-screen behavior of chronically online fans. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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“If you look at the trends with Gen Alpha and probably younger Gen Z, these people are still fans of sports, but they’re less and less watching full long form content,” Qualcomm’s chief marketing officer Don McGuire told TheWrap. “But they’re going in for highlights.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These features show that even as sports has emerged as a $29 billion entertainment juggernaut<\/a>, it’s not standing still. These innovations are designed to cater to diehard fans and casual bandwagon watchers alike, but are ultimately designed to keep audiences locked into their game or team of choice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sports betting, meanwhile, has emerged from the dark alleys and into the spotlight as leagues and networks lean into the addictive and lucrative market. Chris Jason, executive director of ESPN Sports Product, told TheWrap that sports gamblers and Fantasy Football players are the most engaged fan base with the network\u2019s content, and catering to their needs has proven to be vital. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Executives from YouTube, ESPN and Peacock told TheWrap that personalization of the sports themselves increases engagement from fans. These adaptations have become necessary tools in maintaining viewership and reaching the next generation of sports fans. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We know all of our fans want to ‘fan’ in different ways,” Brian Marshall, vice president of sports products and strategy at ESPN, told TheWrap. “So whether it’s a companion experience we build in the app, whether it’s some of the things that we’ve done alongside of the game, we try to find that balance of surfacing great fantasy information for fans who want it, and also making sure anyone who just wants to lean back and enjoy Monday Night Football is able to do that as well.”<\/p>\n\n\n

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A different viewing experience<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

New viewing habits have changed the way that sports are consumed. The increase of second screen viewing and a heightened emphasis on highlights and viral moments have altered the tried and true sports model by emphasizing TikTok-like clips that can easily be shared on social media. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, sports multi-viewing, originally popularized in bars with multiple televisions, had grown so popular that some avid sports fans previously bought two monitors for their own living room set-ups. Now with multi-view options on streamers like Peacock, Paramount+, Fox One and YouTube, watching several games simultaneously has become the norm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

YouTube first launched its multi-sports viewing in 2023<\/a> for March Madness and planned for it to be an early access feature for a select group of YouTube TV subscribers. After the demand for the multi-view increased, the platform made the feature available to all viewers days later. The platform then expanded the feature to its NFL Sunday Ticket in June 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Peacock first tested their multi-view setup during the Olympics \u2014 last summer\u2019s sports breakout moment for the streamer that proved largely successful. The Olympic games brought in record high revenue of $1.9 billion for the company, with average daily viewership of 31 million across the company\u2019s linear networks and Peacock, an 82% increase compared to the 2021 Summer Olympics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Fox One multi-view experience (Fox)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Paramount+ launched its multiview feature for the kickoff of CBS Sports\u2019 UEFA soccer coverage on Tuesday. And ESPN has leaned into its multi-view offerings as part of its new app and streaming ESPN platform, but Marshall said the innovations are not meant to leave anyone behind. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe never want to get in the way of someone who just wants to watch the game,” Marshall said. \u201cWe also want to make sure that that’s complementary to the viewing experience.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some stadiums have leaned into immersive fan experiences using cutting-edge technology. Chip maker Qualcomm has implemented augmented reality activations with Manchester United and virtual reality garage tours with the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 team, giving fans an unprecedented view into the inner workings of their favorite sports. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re talking to a TikTok-driven culture,” McGuire said. “We\u2019re talking to a highlight-driven generation with an attention span of five seconds.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While audiences are embracing multi-view, companies like Qualcomm are investing in the next wave of experiences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We can do a full live stream from a different viewpoint that people can engage with. We can do a virtual seat in the stadium \u2026 But also we can do some really cool stuff with highlights and deliver them in real time and create some really compelling experiences that map to generational behaviors.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Gamification of sports<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

For ESPN, leaning into fantasy football and sports gambling has been essential for turning passive viewers into invested participants. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fantasy football has been around since the 1960s, but in the era of mobile games, it is more popular than ever. Over the last 12 months, 28% of North Americans played fantasy sports or bet on sports, according to a July report from the Fantasy Sports & Gaming Association. Across both the U.S. and Canada, there are approximately 57 million fantasy players and 66 million sports bettors. The NFL and the NBA are the most popular leagues for fantasy sports players in North America, but the MLB, ESports and international and national soccer leagues follow closely behind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ESPN, CBS, Yahoo, NFL and Sleeper all compete for the thumbs of fantasy gamers during the NFL season, with each hosting their own fantasy football leagues. Chris Jason, ESPN\u2019s executive director of sports product, told TheWrap that capturing the attention of these fans leads to greater engagement across ESPN\u2019s products. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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ESPN DTC will offer live stats, sports betting and more (ESPN)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFantasy players, and also bettors now, are the most engaged segments of users we have across the products,\u201d he said. \u201cWe also know that fantasy players over index on all the high value activities that we would care about most as ESPN.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With its new all-in-one ESPN app, the network has incorporated gambling access through external partners into the mobile experience, something the team and fans have been pushing for for years, the sports product director said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere were ways to do it, but they were filled with friction and kind of frustrating,\u201d Jason said. \u201cThe ESPN bet app, I think, is one of the best things that you know sports bettors will get to enjoy this year that previously was not easy to do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

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For parent Disney, the move to online gambling was an about face for the family-friendly company when it first announced its betting platform in collaboration with PENN Entertainment in 2023. Over the last few years, leagues have become closely linked with legalized online gambling. Leagues have signed lucrative marketing deals with betting apps like FanDuel and DraftKings and use gambling to amp up fan engagement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

FanDuel<\/a> has official partnerships with the MLB, NASCAR, NBA, NFL, NHL and the PGA. DraftKings<\/a> is the official partner of the WNBA, and an official daily fantasy and sports betting partner of the NFL, NHL, PGA Tour, and UFC, as well as an official daily fantasy partner of NASCAR. These partnerships have become more commonplace as online sports betting is legalized nationwide. So far, 30 states have legalized online sports betting<\/a> via either smartphone apps or websites. D.C. and Puerto Rico also allow online betting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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There are tradeoffs, though. A UCSD<\/a> study from last year found 96% of sports gamblers lose money, and apps like FanDuel and DraftKings will restrict accounts once they start winning. The betting apps did not respond to TheWrap\u2019s request for comment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The sports gambling industry made over $70 billion in revenue in 2024, with $41 billion coming from online sports betting, according to data from Statista. In 2024, there were 137.9 million online sports betting users active nationwide, with that figure expected to grow to 181.3 million in 2029. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Social media playbook<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Social media platforms and creators have become critical to how fans experience sports, not just during live games but also through highlights, pregame content and behind-the-scenes access. Leagues and teams actively collaborate with a variety of creators to reach new audiences, especially younger and more diverse demographics. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLeagues and sports teams across the board are growing their awareness metrics half over half, year over year, over this long time scale,\u201d CreatorIQ’s director of research and insights Alex Rawitz told TheWrap of sports\u2019 growth in the creator space. \u201cIt is one of our fastest growing categories that we track, and we see sports in general as an up and comer within the broader creator marketing landscape.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to CreatorIQ, both social engagements and impressions for the NFL and NBA have increased exponentially since 2020. The NBA had over 74 billion social impressions in 2024, and the NFL garnered over 53 billion. Sports fans are consuming content on social media more than ever before. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The NFL and NBA’s social impressions increased exponentially from 2020 to 2024, according to data from Creator IQ. (Christopher Smith\/TheWrap)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

YouTube, the exclusive home of NFL Sunday Ticket, has leaned into the creator model of sports consumption with the release of their \u201cWatch With\u201d feature. For the platform\u2019s first NFL broadcast of the Chargers v. the Kansas City Chiefs<\/a> game in Brazil, four YouTube creators \u2013 IShowSpeed, Tom Grossi, Robegrill and SKabeche \u2013 hosted their own Watch With streams. The feature operated like a Twitch live stream and allowed viewers to see the game through the eyes of a creator while also interacting with them through likes and comments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe foundation of our work with leagues began with clips and highlights around a decade ago,\u201d Jon Cruz, global head of Sports Partnerships at YouTube, told TheWrap. \u201cFans of specific sports knew how to find what they needed on YouTube, but we felt that YouTube could be a good place to help leagues and teams find these fans, and draw in new fans, by leveraging their archives to deepen connection with them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The NFL launched its YouTube channel in 2015, and it now has over 15 million subscribers. In 2024 alone, viewers spent over 350 million hours watching official NFL content on the platform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

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