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Global Forecast for the Live Sports Streaming Market 2026-2031: Mobile Viewing and Connected TVs Accelerate Growth

globenewswire.com
AMZN Amazon is strengthening its sports offering with NBA and WNBA streaming agreements, which is expected to benefit its overall sports streaming strategy and subscriber growth. DIS While not explicitly detailed, Disney's involvement in sports media and potential for direct-to-consumer offerings places it within the context of the growing live sports streaming market. WBD The company is mentioned in the context of the competitive landscape of live sports streaming, suggesting its participation in the market, but specific sentiment is not detailed. FOXA Fox Corporation's announced acquisition of Roku for $22 billion highlights the strategic importance of connected TV distribution and device ecosystems in the live sports streaming market, indicating a strong strategic move. CMCSA Comcast is listed as a major media group that may be better positioned to absorb rising sports rights costs due to its broader strategies, but no specific positive or negative sentiment is detailed. AAPL Apple is listed as a participant in the competitive landscape of live sports streaming, indicating its presence in the market, but no specific sentiment is detailed. GOOGL Alphabet is listed as a participant in the competitive landscape of live sports streaming, indicating its presence in the market, but no specific sentiment is detailed.

Global Forecast for the Live Sports Streaming Market 2026-2031: Mobile Viewing and Connected TVs Accelerate Growth Dublin, Aug. 20, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Live Sports Streaming - Market Share Analysis, Industry Trends & Statistics, Growth Forecasts (2026-2031)" has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The global live sports streaming market is projected to increase from USD 12.43 billion in 2025 to USD 14.10 billion in 2026 before reaching USD 23.89 billion by 2031. The market is forecast to register a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 11.12% from 2026 to 2031, supported by direct-to-consumer sports services, expanding mobile consumption, connected TV adoption, and advances in low-latency network infrastructure.

The market report provides forecasts by device type, sport type, and geography, with all estimates presented in USD value terms. Device categories include smartphones and tablets, smart TVs, laptops and desktops, and other devices. Sports covered include football/soccer, baseball, basketball, cricket, motorsports, tennis, and additional sporting categories.

Direct-to-Consumer Sports Streaming Reshapes Digital Distribution

The transition from traditional pay television to direct digital distribution remains a major live sports streaming market trend. Premium sports rights help streaming platforms attract subscribers, improve viewer retention, generate advertising revenue, and build direct audience relationships. Rights holders are also developing proprietary streaming products to reduce reliance on conventional broadcast arrangements.

The Mountain West Conference launched MW+ in July 2026, establishing a direct-to-consumer route for collegiate sports audiences. In April 2026, The CW Network and ESPN expanded the digital availability of college sports by agreeing to distribute more than 800 hours of live CW Sports programming through the ESPN App. These developments illustrate how leagues, conferences, broadcasters, and technology companies are using live sports to strengthen subscription and advertising strategies.

5G and Fiber Networks Support Higher-Quality Live Sports Experiences

Expansion of 5G and fiber connectivity is improving streaming reliability while enabling low-latency features such as real-time data overlays, synchronized viewing, interactive statistics, and alternative camera feeds. At the 2025 PGA Championship, T-Mobile used its 5G Advanced Network to support augmented reality visualizations featuring player shot data.

Enhanced connectivity is also creating opportunities for in-play engagement, addressable advertising, and data-rich broadcasts. Streaming providers with scalable delivery infrastructure are expected to gain a competitive advantage as audiences demand reliable, premium-quality coverage across mobile and connected devices.

Sports Rights Inflation Creates Margin Pressure

Rising sports rights costs remain a significant market restraint. The NBA's approximately USD 76 billion media agreement established a higher valuation benchmark for premium sports packages. Large technology and media groups may be better positioned to absorb these costs because live sports can support broader advertising, commerce, hardware, and cloud strategies. Pure-play streaming services face greater pressure to recover rights investments through subscriptions, sponsorships, and advertising.

Additional market factors assessed in the report include:

Mobile Devices Lead as Smart TV Viewing Expands

Smartphones and tablets accounted for 42.31% of the live sports streaming market in 2025. Mobile viewing remains especially important across Asia-Pacific, Africa, and South America, where affordable data plans, regional-language content, and flexible access support broad audience reach. JioStar reported 25 billion digital video views during IPL 2026, while regional-language digital watch time increased by 33%.

Smart TVs are forecast to grow at a CAGR of 11.34% through 2031. JioStar reported that connected TV reach during TATA IPL 2026 increased 26% year over year, while connected TV consumption rose 20%. Larger screens support premium advertising, higher picture quality, and appointment-based viewing. Fox Corporation's announced USD 22 billion acquisition of Roku in June 2026 further highlighted the strategic importance of connected TV distribution and device ecosystems.

Regional Live Sports Streaming Market Outlook

North America held 32.53% of global market share in 2025, supported by high revenue per user and extensive digital rights portfolios spanning the NFL, NBA, college sports, and other premium competitions. Amazon strengthened its sports offering through an NBA and WNBA streaming agreement, while Netflix extended its NFL relationship through the 2029-30 season and added more game windows and the NFL Honors program.

Asia-Pacific is projected to record the fastest regional growth, with a CAGR of 11.46% through 2031. Large cricket audiences, mobile-first access, multilingual programming, and flexible pricing models are central to expansion. JioHotstar recorded 72.5 million peak concurrent viewers during the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2026 final, demonstrating the region's capacity for streaming at exceptional scale.

South America is developing strong advertising-supported models. CazeTV secured an exclusive six-season LaLiga agreement in Brazil covering all 380 matches per season from 2026-27 through 2031-32, with free distribution through YouTube and partner streaming services.

Europe remains a major sports media market, although fragmented rights can require consumers to subscribe to multiple platforms. Piracy also continues to affect rights holders and distributors. Growth in the Middle East is supported by major regional broadcasters, including beIN Media Group, while Africa presents emerging opportunities in South Africa, Egypt, Nigeria, and other urban markets as payment infrastructure and content delivery networks expand.

Key Topics Covered

1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Study Assumptions and Market Definition

1.2 Scope of the Study

2 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

4 MARKET LANDSCAPE

4.1 Market Overview

4.2 Market Drivers

4.2.1 Rising Cord-Cutting and Shift From Pay TV to Direct-To-Consumer Sports

4.2.2 Expansion of Low-Latency 5G and Fiber Connectivity

4.2.3 Escalating Value of Exclusive Sports Rights

4.2.4 Growth of Mobile-First Sports Consumption

4.2.5 Ad-Supported Streaming Monetization for Live Sports

4.2.6 Interactive Viewing, Betting, and Fan Engagement Features

4.3 Market Restraints

4.3.1 High Sports Rights Inflation and Margin Pressure

4.3.2 Piracy and Unauthorized Restreaming of Live Events

4.3.3 Latency, Peak Load, and Network Quality Challenges

4.3.4 Fragmented Rights Holders and Windowing Complexity

4.4 Industry Value Chain Analysis

4.5 Regulatory Landscape

4.6 Technological Outlook

4.7 Impact of Macroeconomic Factors on the Market

4.8 Porter's Five Forces Analysis

4.8.1 Bargaining Power of Suppliers

4.8.2 Bargaining Power of Buyers

4.8.3 Threat of New Entrants

4.8.4 Threat of Substitutes

4.8.5 Competitive Rivalry

5 MARKET SIZE AND GROWTH FORECASTS (VALUE)

5.1 By Device Type

5.1.1 Smartphones and Tablets

5.1.2 Smart TVs

5.1.3 Laptops and Desktops

5.1.4 Other Device Type

5.2 By Sport Type

5.2.1 Football Soccer

5.2.2 Baseball

5.2.3 Basketball

5.2.4 Cricket

5.2.5 Motorsports

5.2.6 Tennis

5.2.7 Other Sport Types

5.3 By Geography

5.3.1 North America

5.3.1.1 United States

5.3.1.2 Canada

5.3.1.3 Mexico

5.3.2 South America

5.3.2.1 Brazil

5.3.2.2 Argentina

5.3.2.3 Chile

5.3.2.4 Rest of South America

5.3.3 Europe

5.3.3.1 Germany

5.3.3.2 United Kingdom

5.3.3.3 France

5.3.3.4 Italy

5.3.3.5 Spain

5.3.3.6 Rest of Europe

5.3.4 Asia-Pacific

5.3.4.1 China

5.3.4.2 Japan

5.3.4.3 India

5.3.4.4 South Korea

5.3.4.5 Australia

5.3.4.6 Rest of Asia-Pacific

5.3.5 Middle East

5.3.5.1 Saudi Arabia

5.3.5.2 United Arab Emirates

5.3.5.3 Qatar

5.3.5.4 Rest of Middle East

5.3.6 Africa

5.3.6.1 South Africa

5.3.6.2 Egypt

5.3.6.3 Nigeria

5.3.6.4 Rest of Africa

6 COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE

6.1 Market Concentration

6.2 Strategic Moves

6.3 Vendor Positioning Analysis

6.4 Company Profiles (includes Global Level Overview, Market Level Overview, Core Segments, Financials as available, Strategic Information, Market Rank/Share, Products and Services, Recent Developments)

6.4.1 Amazon.com, Inc.

6.4.2 The Walt Disney Company

6.4.3 DAZN Group Limited

6.4.4 Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc.

6.4.5 Paramount Skydance Corporation

6.4.6 Fox Corporation

6.4.7 Comcast Corporation

6.4.8 Apple Inc.

6.4.9 Alphabet Inc.

6.4.10 Tencent Holdings Limited

6.4.11 TelevisaUnivision, Inc.

6.4.12 beIN Media Group LLC

6.4.13 JioStar India Private Limited

6.4.14 FloSports, Inc.

6.4.15 Sony Group Corporation

6.4.16 CANAL+ S.A.

6.4.17 Viaplay Group AB

6.4.18 Liberty Media Corporation

6.4.19 NFL Enterprises LLC

6.4.20 Major League Baseball

7 MARKET OPPORTUNITIES AND FUTURE OUTLOOK

7.1 White-Space and Unmet-Need Assessment

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/mloawu

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