Sports! Sports! Sports!

WHY AMERICANS WATCH SPORTS ON TV

Super Bowl Sunday is just a few days away, Americans are getting ready for the ultimate annual shared experience of sports television viewing. For many, though, watching TV sports is more than an occasional thing. When the Harris Poll asked Americans who enjoy watching sports what it is they actually enjoy about the experience, the largest percentage (63%) confirmed that they enjoy watching because of the skill involved. Over half also enjoy the rivalry between teams (57%), teamwork (55%), athleticism (54%), and strategy (51%). Around two out of five sports viewers like to use watching sports as an opportunity for showing team pride (41%), as well as enjoying the social aspect of watching with friends (38%). Meanwhile, roughly three in ten sports viewers enjoy watching sports for reasons such as the family tradition of watching (31%), speed of play (31%), and the camaraderie with other fans (28%). Certain aspects of sports viewership also resonate with some demographics more than with others.
Millennials viewers are more likely than their counterparts in any other generation to appreciate the social aspect of watching with friends (50% vs. 39% Gen Xers, 32% Baby
Boomers, & 20% Matures). Viewers living the in the eastern and western regions of America are more likely than those in the Midwest and South to favor watching sports for the athleticism (60% & 59% vs. 49% each respectively). In addition, the two reasons for watching that appeal more to female viewers than their male counterparts are the social aspects of watching with friends (42% vs. 35%) and the family tradition of watching (37% vs. 26%).

Happy New Year!

Let's look at the trend that will come to define video consumtion this year and for years to come.

ONLINE BOOSTS TV CONTENT VIEWING

People are watching more and more video content online. Also, they’re watching more and more ads—and increasingly they’re watching those ads in TV programming. The data supporting those conclusions are in the

Video Monetization Report Q3 2014 from FreeWheel, the digital ad platform now owned by Comcast. "Wherever you look in digital video, there is overwhelming evidence that it is rapidly maturing and growing into its long-awaited role in the future of television," the report concludes.

Online video may have started with :45 clips of cute kittens, but devices have improved and broadband delivery has improved, so people are now watching longer-form programming on digital devices. Ad views within long-form (20 minutes or more) and live programming rose 41% year-over-year, outpacing the 33%

growth in short-form (five minutes or less) videos. Ad views within live programming shot up 214% YOY, with 82% of live viewing attributed to sports.

In Q3 FreeWheel says authenticated viewing—

TV Everywhere—was up 368% YOY. The quarterly study also found that 64% of authenticated viewing by people using their MVPD paid subscription credentials was on a desktop or laptop computer screen, 22% using an OTT device and 7% each for smartphones and tablets.

A year ago only 14% of long-form and live monetization came from behind an authentication wall, FreeWheel noted. That shot up to 46% in Q3 of 2014. MVPD subscribers are increasingly making use of being able to access their pay TV content on digital devices. Yes, TV Everywhere is taking off.

FreeWheel also found that 56% of authenticated ad viewing in the past quarter involved live programming. Must-have live programming is described in the report as the hook for programmers to "capture and train" TV Everywhere viewers. Once introduced to authenticated viewing they can explore the rich libraries of on-demand programming, which accounted for 44% in Q3.