New data from Gracenote reveals a substantial increase in sports programming available on major global subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) platforms. Their latest Data Hub update, released February 26, 2025, shows a remarkable 72% quarter-over-quarter growth across Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV+, Disney+, Netflix, and Paramount+.
This expansion underscores the critical role of live sports in attracting and retaining subscribers. Disney+ experienced the most dramatic increase, adding a staggering 471% more sports content, primarily due to the addition of select ESPN programming. Netflix also saw a significant boost, nearly doubling its sports offerings with a 100% growth. While Apple TV+ didn't expand its sports catalog this past quarter, upcoming Major League Soccer (MLS) and Major League Baseball (MLB) seasons are anticipated to significantly bolster its content.
The shift in sports programming distribution is noteworthy. Disney+ now holds almost 33% of available sports content, a substantial increase from previous quarters, second only to Amazon Prime Video with 35%. This contrasts with Amazon's previous dominance, holding 54% of the market. Netflix currently accounts for just over 23% of the total sports content across these five services.
Beyond sports, these five SVOD services collectively increased their overall content offerings by 6.7% last quarter. Movies and TV shows experienced growth of 7.6% and 5.4%, respectively, with the addition of approximately 3,000 movies, 2,000 TV series, and 500 sports programs. Amazon Prime Video retains its position as the largest distributor of streaming content, currently offering nearly 69% of all available programming, a slight increase from 67.8% a year prior.
“Live sports programming continues to be an important driver of user growth, retention and engagement for streaming services,” stated Bill Michels, chief product officer at Gracenote. “We are also seeing that relevant metadata, such as synopses, scores, highlights and imagery, have the power to help streamers build world-class user experiences that keep users engaged beyond the live game.”
Gracenote’s Data Hub, providing metadata for over 40 million titles across 260 streaming catalogs in over 80 countries, is updated quarterly to monitor changes in SVOD programming. Future reports are expected to include further TV market insights.