Current Events > Study: Millennials aren't watching traditional sports anymore

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https://www.law360.com/articles/902320/millennials-losing-interest-in-sports-tv-study-shows

Millennials are moving from cable television and losing interest in traditional sports in favor of “e-sports” and other alternatives, LEK Consulting said on Wednesday, based on a recent study, trends that could cause a fundamental shake-up in the sports industry as media rights have become a driving source of revenue.
LEK Consulting said there is a “sharp generational divide” among sports fans and consumers, marked by a change in TV viewing habits between millennials — those 18 to 25 years old — and those 35 and older. The group said millennials are spending less time watching traditional cable TV and in turn, losing interest in traditional sports.

The conclusions come from a survey of more than 1,500 sports fans as part of a study on television and sports viewing habits by LEK Consulting, originally released in February, that found nonmillennial sports fans spend 41 percent of their media time on TV, but only 9 percent on online TV. Millennials, on the other hand, report spending 33 percent of their media time on TV, with 20 percent online.

The divide is significant, LEK said, because the study indicated that sports fans grow their interest in sports from having watched them on TV. In the survey, 30 percent of respondents across all age groups said “watching games on TV growing up” was their top reason for becoming a sports fan, equal to the number who cited “playing sports as youngsters.”

LEK said this could threaten growth of the industry.

“For years, sports programming has been part of basic cable, and more has been available via premium cable TV sports tiers,” Gil Moran, a managing director for LEK’s sports group, said in a statement. “TV has been the historical conduit for sports fandom. So the decline in legacy viewership points to a decline in sports fandom going forward”.

Much of this has to do with millennials being cord cutters, but the net result seems to be less watching of sports and less general interest in it as a form of entertainment, at least according to the study.

What do you think this means in the long term?
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Liberals just trying to ruin America in more ways, I see
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Milennials fucking up even more
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They just don't think of the bigger picture.

I cannot fathom living such a half life.
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Traditional sports have been shit for ages. Far too boring and way too much money involved

When remember when people used to play for fun and build character?
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millenials don't like COMMERCIALS
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Sports will need to adapt to the new world where everyone cuts cords and No one wants to buy $90 tickets and $12 beers to sit surrounded by sweaty people in 90 degree heat.
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It's not like Discus Throwing sees much action outside the Olympics
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i play baseball but fuck watching it
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The Admiral posted...

Much of this has to do with millennials being cord cutters

No I think this is all it amounts to.

If people could watch sports on Netflix, they probably would.
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I already forecasted before on CE the decline of traditional sports to be replaced by e-sports and users called me an idiot

feels good to see me being right

I mean, it is more than just video games killing traditional sports, it is also things like injuries and how that is a big thing now in football
ex-players talking about how the NFL don't care about your health and you get injuries that impact your life till you die
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I can see it, as a kid as more things went to ESPN i didnt have cable and couldnt watch.

If i didnt play sports i probably wouldnt care. i know a lot of people who didnt watch sports and now are into Esports and a bunch of other things
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Times are changing.
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MILLLENNIAAAAAALLLLLLSSSSSSS!!!

caps
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Young people don't like cable in general

Traditional sports needs to get with the program and stream their damn games
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A necessary gutting and reshaping of the sports entertainment industry, in my opinion.

When music video culture and the rock industry crashed, it didn't kill music. It just meant that fat cats in big record companies couldn't line their wallets anymore over garbage content.
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The Admiral posted...

What do you think this means in the long term

End of blackout restrictions and nfl joining the early 2000s and offering a streaming service.

I can watch every almost every Cubs game on mlb TV, I use nfl redzone on sling for football. Basketball is becoming unwatchable with their current cba. Hockey is a terrible sport.

Being able to generate direct money from fans should also create less reliance on ads and hopefully speed up the games that is a problem with football and baseball.
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another big thing is even the type of bro-dude who plays football in high school loves games like call of duty

when he gets older and out of shape, he can no longer play football
but he can still play call of duty

that makes the e-sport more relevant to his later life
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Millennials strike again!
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I'm a gamer and a sports fan. I follow real sports several times more than esports. Literally everyone else I know is the same way.

There are tons of problems with real sports though. Football has too many ads. Basketball's regular season up until the second round of the playoffs is completely irrelevant. Baseball is a fucking slog to sit through. You can't really watch hockey anywhere unless you subscribe. Etc. etc.

There are tons of other problems I don't have time to list because I'm almost done poopin. I'll just conclude that this is another story of companies not changing to keep up with current trends and instead blaming the customer for 'doing it wrong.'
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I Like Toast posted...

Basketball is becoming unwatchable with their current cba

What do you mean with this part?
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Hopefully sports like football will disappear in the future. So god damn stupid.
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watching sports on TV is pretty fucking stupid anyway when you think about it

only a few major teams are broadcast on the big networks (ABC, NBC, etc), and then you have a few smaller market teams on cable networks, like the twolves on TNT iirc.

but let's say you want to watch another team, then you have to shell out money for something like the NBA/NFL/etc Season Pass, so you're paying far out the ass for this, and then you cant even watch half the games because you have shit to do in your life or they're broadcast in a different time zone.

meanwhile if you ever wanted to see a sports game live you need to be ready to take out a second mortgage because ticket costs are ridiculous.

i think it's just that young people are sitting online all day now and they can just go on twitch and watch some dweeb play league of legends, but if they want to get into sports it means navigating an obtuse tv network system to find a team that they like or watching a sketchy chinese stream
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TheBiggerWiggle posted...

I'm a gamer and a sports fan. I follow real sports several times more than esports. Literally everyone else I know is the same way.

There are tons of problems with real sports though. Football has too many ads. Basketball's regular season up until the second round of the playoffs is completely irrelevant. Baseball is a fucking slog to sit through. You can't really watch hockey anywhere unless you subscribe. Etc. etc.

There are tons of other problems I don't have time to list because I'm almost done poopin. I'll just conclude that this is another story of companies not changing to keep up with current trends and instead blaming the customer for 'doing it wrong.'

e-sports is in its infancy

it is to be expected for the time being you would be more into traditional sports

but the decline is coming
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the less white trash we have causing trouble whenever a football game is on the better.

Living next to manchester united stadium is hell whenever there's a game, noisy ass plebs shouting, singing and just being generally annoying.

darkphoenix181 posted...

another big thing is even the type of bro-dude who plays football in high school loves games like call of duty

indeed, video games are no longer just the "skinny/fat nerd" pastime
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Basketball (the NBA at least) is seeing ratings increases. After this past draft with all the potential star power at the top I can see NCAA using that to its advantage this season. The NFL is making some moves to get viewers back. Loosening up the celebration rule will help. Baseball sucks and soccer is irrelevant here for the most part.

TV sports are a waste of time.
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The Admiral posted...

What do you mean with this part

Max contracts were intended to stop super teams but the result has only created them. Players like LeBron should be eating up far more than 30% of the cap space of a team. Most players will be plenty happy to play for 15-20 mil a year and win a ring, than 25-30 million. The difference isn't great enough for greed to beat legacy building.
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All the blame is on League of LEGENDS for making Esports so viable and popular

DuranOfForcena posted...

i never understood in the first place why people go so fucking crazy over sports games

when i worked at walmart, any time either a football game or a baseball game was underway, it would be on the TV in the breakroom, and it was unthinkable to even switch the channel for a second. and even worse, you'd have tons of employees sneaking back there to catch however much they could of the game, not on their breaks, wasting company time and leaving associates who couldn't give less of a fuck about it to try to man the salesfloor as best as they could. even management would be back there. it fucking pissed me off so much.

Because we enjoy them. Why do you go crazy over certain video games or whatever it is you enjoy? Sounds like your beef is with bad coworkers, not sports.

TheBiggerWiggle posted...

I'm a gamer and a sports fan. I follow real sports several times more than esports. Literally everyone else I know is the same way.

There are tons of problems with real sports though. Football has too many ads. Basketball's regular season up until the second round of the playoffs is completely irrelevant. Baseball is a fucking slog to sit through. You can't really watch hockey anywhere unless you subscribe. Etc. etc.

There are tons of other problems I don't have time to list because I'm almost done poopin. I'll just conclude that this is another story of companies not changing to keep up with current trends and instead blaming the customer for 'doing it wrong.'

Confirming my theory that the problem here isn't sports, it's the companies that want us to pay a fortune to watch a very limited number of sports in an age where that's clearly not how things need to be.

$100 to watch Connor McGregor fight Mayweather? Are you fucking shitting me? That would pay for a year of Netflix. Just think about that. Cable companies are going to try and rinse people dry and at the same time wonder why they're looking elsewhere to spend their money.
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TheBiggerWiggle posted...

I'll just conclude that this is another story of companies not changing to keep up with current trends and instead blaming the customer for 'doing it wrong.'

That's the modern way businesses are run

"The customer is always wrong" (especially if they're gay and want a cake)
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FaytlessHearts posted...

Hopefully sports like football will disappear in the future. So god damn stupid.

things you like are bad
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ItsVinceRusso posted...

millenials don't like COMMERCIALS

i don't either, but i still watch sports. for certain games i just DVR and watch later, skipping commercials. if it's a game i really care about, i watch it live but mute the commercials. commercials are the worst.
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TheVipaGTS posted...

Basketball (the NBA at least) is seeing ratings increases. After this past draft with all the potential star power at the top I can see NCAA using that to its advantage this season. The NFL is making some moves to get viewers back. Loosening up the celebration rule will help. Baseball sucks and soccer is irrelevant here for the most part.

I generally agree with you. The NCAA's problem with basketball is that the mainstream ignores it before March, but their tournament is one of the most perfect sports ideas ever constructed. Even people who know nothing about sports fill out brackets, which is amazing.

This doesn't seem to be the case with most other sports, however, excluding the Super Bowl.
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Giant_Aspirin posted...

ItsVinceRusso posted...

millenials don't like COMMERCIALS

i don't either, but i still watch sports. for certain games i just DVR and watch later, skipping commercials. if it's a game i really care about, i watch it live but mute the commercials. commercials are the worst.

The NBA is actually waking up to this as well. Fewer breaks are expected this year. They'll just increase partner branding and will be putting logos on jerseys. Sure it might be ugly but it won't affect the game and fewer breaks will keep people tuned in.

Romulox28 posted...

watching sports on TV is pretty fucking stupid anyway when you think about it

only a few major teams are broadcast on the big networks (ABC, NBC, etc), and then you have a few smaller market teams on cable networks, like the twolves on TNT iirc.

but let's say you want to watch another team, then you have to shell out money for something like the NBA/NFL/etc Season Pass, so you're paying far out the ass for this, and then you cant even watch half the games because you have shit to do in your life or they're broadcast in a different time zone.

meanwhile if you ever wanted to see a sports game live you need to be ready to take out a second mortgage because ticket costs are ridiculous.

i think it's just that young people are sitting online all day now and they can just go on twitch and watch some dweeb play league of legends, but if they want to get into sports it means navigating an obtuse tv network system to find a team that they like or watching a sketchy chinese stream

It's exactly this for me at least. Shit is too expensive on top of it being a pain in the ass. Maybe instead of trying to place blame on potential viewership or enact destructive legislation, they just, ya know, adapt and eat the loss in revenue.
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DuranOfForcena posted...

i never understood in the first place why people go so fucking crazy over sports games

when i worked at walmart, any time either a football game or a baseball game was underway, it would be on the TV in the breakroom, and it was unthinkable to even switch the channel for a second. and even worse, you'd have tons of employees sneaking back there to catch however much they could of the game, not on their breaks, wasting company time and leaving associates who couldn't give less of a fuck about it to try to man the salesfloor as best as they could. even management would be back there. it fucking pissed me off so much.

a few things:

1. it is cultural (talking to a random dude is easy if you both into football)

2. it is tribal (watching your team stomp their rival gives YOU a sense of self-value, because they are an extension of you)

3. it is fantasy (people who enjoy playing the game imagine themselves in the game like you might in a fantasy novel)

these apply to e-sports as well
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Sports would be much better with robot refs. Like how is there not 100% reliable technology to determine if a player got both feet in the end zone? We have to rely on subjective old farts watching from different camera angles.

And red flags or penalties are super subjective and vary per ref. Some are flag happy while others let players get away with huge violations.
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TheVipaGTS posted...

Giant_Aspirin posted...

ItsVinceRusso posted...

millenials don't like COMMERCIALS

i don't either, but i still watch sports. for certain games i just DVR and watch later, skipping commercials. if it's a game i really care about, i watch it live but mute the commercials. commercials are the worst.

The NBA is actually waking up to this as well. Fewer breaks are expected this year. They'll just increase partner branding and will be putting logos on jerseys. Sure it might be ugly but it won't affect the game and fewer breaks will keep people tuned in.

interesting.

sounds like what soccer does. since the game is two 45-minutes halves without breaks, it doesn't lend itself well to commercials. instead the sponsors advertise in other ways, like with logos on jerseys or branding on the side of the field.
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As others have said, they need to move with the times and offer more streaming options.

Cable (and satellite, in Sky's case) subscriptions are extortionate as fuck here in the UK and I imagine it's the same in the US. You pay for the basic package (and there are often "incentives" to take phone and internet) and then pay even more on top for sports channels. I think Sky Sports costs like another £20 on top over here. There's talk that Sky will offer individual sports channels going forward, but that doesn't go far enough honestly. They need to offer it separately without you needing a basic subscription that you might not even use if you have Netflix, for example.

Then there's the TV license here in the UK that puts some off, but that's a whole separate debate. Although, the BBC does get some sports, which is nice for those that don't have cable/satellite subs. It'd be nice if they got more like they used to before Sky gobbled it all up. That was one positive of having a national broadcaster.

Additionally, I do think our generation probably isn't as into spot as much as previous generations, which is a harder thing to change. If we want to tackle inactivity and the problems that come with it (obesity, diabetes, etc.) then interest in sport is important. Obviously that only works if people actually take part in it, but watching it gets people interested.

Let's just say certain subreddits are really great for sports

darkphoenix181 posted...

2. it is tribal (watching your team stomp their rival gives YOU a sense of self-value, because they are an extension of you)

I never understood this. How does a team winning affect me in any way? Just because "my" team is doing great doesn't mean I'll get a salary increase. In fact, *I* have to pay if I even want to see them, not to mention all the BS merchandising.
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HylianFox posted...

darkphoenix181 posted...

2. it is tribal (watching your team stomp their rival gives YOU a sense of self-value, because they are an extension of you)

I never understood this. How does a team winning affect me in any way? Just because "my" team is doing great doesn't mean I'll get a salary increase. In fact, *I* have to pay if I even want to see them, not to mention all the BS merchandising.

Depends on where you shop and whether or not stores in your area do promotions based on the outcome of whether or not your team wins.

Giant_Aspirin posted...

interesting.

sounds like what soccer does. since the game is two 45-minutes halves without breaks, it doesn't lend itself well to commercials. instead the sponsors advertise in other ways, like with logos on jerseys or branding on the side of the field.

most corporate advertisement for soccer is done through merchandise (kind of like how ESPN will make sure you see that Roger Federer is wearing Nike shoes)

So you'll go into the store and see things like "Official ____ of the World Cup" or "Official ____ of the Champion's League"

But that mostly only works in foreign countries because Soccer is already insanely popular there.

Most people in America won't give a shit if you have the "official shoes of MLS"
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The only sports I care about are college football and the NFL and even cord cutting millennials can stop that train. I mean, they probably can't stop any major sport but definitely not football.
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It'll be fine. The next batch of kids will be good. It's the batch after that that'll be fucked and ruin this country.
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