The landscape of sports programming on subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) platforms has undergone a dramatic transformation. New data from Gracenote reveals a substantial 72% quarter-over-quarter surge in sports content across major services like Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV+, Disney+, Netflix, and Paramount+. This growth underscores the critical role of live sports in subscriber acquisition and retention, driving significant investment in real-time events by streaming giants.
Disney+ experienced the most remarkable increase, boasting a staggering 471% jump in sports content, largely attributed to the integration of select ESPN programming. Netflix also saw significant expansion, nearly doubling its sports offerings with a 100% growth rate. While Apple TV+ maintained its current sports catalog this past quarter, anticipated upcoming seasons of Major League Soccer (MLS) and Major League Baseball (MLB) are poised to significantly boost its content library.
This influx of sports programming has significantly altered the distribution landscape. Disney+ now commands almost 33% of available sports content, surpassing previous quarters but still trailing Amazon Prime Video, which holds a 35% share. This contrasts sharply with Amazon's previous dominance, holding 54% of sports content among these platforms. Netflix currently delivers just over 23% of the total sports programming across the five services.
Beyond sports, the five SVOD services saw an overall 6.7% increase in total content. 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 leading distributor of streaming content, 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,” noted 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, providing metadata for over 40 million titles across 260 streaming catalogs in over 80 countries, updates its Data Hub quarterly to monitor SVOD programming changes. Future reports promise further insights into the evolving TV market.