Should Local Businesses Advertise on Live Sports CTV?
August 24, 2026 - 10 minutes read
People have always loved watching live sports on TV. Nowadays, the majority of people are watching their favorite live sports games on streaming services instead of traditional broadcast channels.
There are two reasons behind this big shift:
- Streaming platforms have signed huge deals with leagues directly
- More households than ever are cutting the cord with cable
This is good news for advertisers, as it means live sports fans are reachable in a way that isn’t possible with a broadcast buy. The live sports audience is notoriously the biggest and most engaged of all, and reaching them with CTV ads is an opportunity you don’t want to pass up.
How Much Of Sports Viewership Has Moved To Streaming?
How Many Viewers Are Streaming Vs. Broadcast Vs. Cable?
As of June 2026, streaming made up 48.5% of total TV viewing according to Nielsen’s The Gauge, which is the highest percentage it has ever recorded. Cable fell to 19.5% of viewers, and broadcast dwindled to 19.8%, split between 5 networks.
Streaming alone captures more viewers than cable and broadcast combined. That says everything you need to know about where your audience is these days.
How Fast Is Digital Live Sports Viewership Growing?
General streaming numbers are climbing, and sports fans are riding the same streaming wave. In 2024, roughly 105 million Americans watched live sports through a digital platform and, by 2027, that number is projected to grow to 127.4 million.
“Two years ago, we weren’t yet having this conversation with clients,” says Shannon Allen, Chief Revenue Officer at Federated Digital Solutions. “Now, it’s the first thing I bring up because the audience has already made the move.”
Why Are Sports Fans Choosing Streaming Over Cable?
Leagues Are Signing Deals With Streaming Platforms
Make no mistake, all of this growth is curated. Leagues have spent the last few years signing deals directly with streaming platforms, and the ripple effect from those deals is clear in the numbers.
Take the NFL, for example. They’ve spread their games across 9 platforms per season, and that includes CBS, FOX, ESPN, NBC, ABC, Peacock, Prime Video, Netflix, and the NFL Network. While some games may air on streaming and broadcast channels simultaneously, others are exclusive to streaming platforms.
Baseball has done the same. The MLB just signed a 3-year deal that splits their national games across NBC, Peacock, Netflix, ESPN, Fox, TBS, and Apple TV+.
Every one of those deals takes more games away from broadcast channels and puts them on streaming.
Why Are Households Watching Fewer Games On Cable?
When there’s a show you just can’t get enough of, you want to be able to watch it wherever, whenever. When there’s a game you want to catch, you don’t want to miss a single moment. Accessibility and convenience are the reasons why live sports audiences are choosing streaming over cable.
When you watch sports on streaming, you can watch it on a TV, your phone, or a tablet, anywhere you might be. That flexibility is huge for people, for any type of content they watch, and you can’t get that flexibility with broadcast or cable.
What Does This Shift Mean For Local Advertisers?
Buying Only The Local Broadcast Game Limits Your Reach
If a business only advertises during the local broadcast of a game, they’re only reaching the audience that’s tuned into that channel at that time. Broadcast reaches 19.8% of total TV viewership, split up between each network. If you’re only buying the local college football game on NBC, for example, you’re reaching about 4.5% of total viewership. CTV reaches 47.5% of total viewership.
Targeting By Sport Changes Who You Can Reach
When you buy live sports CTV, instead of buying just one game, you’re buying access to anyone in your target market who’s watching that particular sport, no matter what game they’re watching.
If you’re a car dealer advertising during college football season, you’re reaching every college football fan in the DMA, not just the ones who are watching one specific team.
This broader reach performs well on a consistent basis. Streaming-exclusive NFL games returned 66% stronger ad results than cable and broadcast average during the 2024-2025 season.
“If you love college football, you’re not just watching Notre Dame,” says Allen. “You’re watching all of it. Why would you want your ad only to show up during one game?”
How Does Live Sports Streaming Work Alongside A Radio Buy?
Pairing Streaming Video With A Radio Campaign
Radio and streaming make a great team, as they have the ability to reach the same fan at different parts of the day or week. While radio reaches the majority of people in their cars, streaming can pick up that same fan when they sit down in front of the TV to catch kickoff. When you pair these two media, your business shows up whether someone is tuning in from their car or watching live at home.
What Results Have Local Businesses Seen With Live Sports CTV?
The results of these campaigns have the power to speak for themselves. A winery in Fort Wayne ran a March Madness streaming campaign over three weeks and saw huge results.
“Their ad ran for three weeks, and in the next 30 days, we were able to track 460 actions from people who were delivered their ad and then went to the winery’s website,” Allen says. “It’s rare to get that kind of proof from a cable insertion order.”
How Can Your Business Start Advertising On Live Sports Streaming?
Finding The Sports To Advertise During
Start out by matching the sport to your audience, as each sport attracts a different market.
- The NFL has the broadest reach of any sport, with a near-even split between male and female viewers and a fanbase that skews a bit older. If you’re chasing market-wide awareness, this is the place to be.
- College Football’s viewers skew slightly younger than the NFL, but they have the same broad appeal with the added draw of hometown rivalries.
- The NBA is composed of the youngest fanbase in the major leagues, skewing 58% male, mostly between the ages of 25 and 44.
- The MLB has an extremely long season, and that means months of steady reach. The audience is getting younger as the years go by, with the median age now around 45.
- The NHL skews older and is the most male-dominated audience of the league, and the fanbase is highly educated.
- PGA Golf has the most affluent audience in the league and still skews the oldest on traditional TV, though streaming does pull younger viewers.
Because each sport carries their own audience profile, it’s worth taking the time to find the best fit for your business’s ads.
Lock Your Schedule In Early
Live sports inventory is limited, which means that timing is crucial. It sells first come, first served and once a season’s inventory is sold, it’s gone.
The shift to streaming isn’t slowing down. The businesses who lock in their live sports schedules now are the ones who show up where their audiences already are.
If you’d like help figuring out which sports and what packages fit your market best, reach out to your rep at Federated Digital Solutions to talk about live sports CTV. We’d love to walk you through it!