Is Cable TV Striking Out with Sports Fans? Poll shows continued exodus from cable, but non-fans cutting cords in even greater numbers.

Sports programing has long been a major driving force behind cable TV subscriptions, going back to the birth of “superstations” (Braves, Yankees, Cubs, Mets) in the 1980s and the advent of ESPN Last year, the bulk of the most watched television programs in the United States were sporting events.

Regional sports networks, (RSNs), carried on cable systems, are in the news lately because of failures by Bally Sports (owned by Diamond Sports Group), to fulfill baseball, basketball and hockey contracts in a number of cities.

There has been a slow migration of sports programming to streaming channels (like Peacock, Amazon Prime, and Apple+), and with that, seemingly, some cord-cutting. Over the last several years the Seton Hall Sports Poll has been tracking America’s viewing habits and streaming subscriptions and the numbers tell a story.

Cable TV, which saw 36 percent of the general population subscribing in May 2021, was down to 25 percent in May 2022, (an 11 point drop), and 26 percent in May 2023, which does show, perhaps, that the exodus from cable in the post-pandemic world has leveled off. The majority of live sports is still on cable and is seemingly still a deciding factor in consumer behavior.

These were among the findings of a Seton Hall Sports Poll conducted last month among 1,509 adults across the country. The poll featured a national representative sample from YouGov weighted on U.S. Census Bureau figures for gender, age, ethnicity, education, income and geography and has a margin of error of +/- 2.5 percent.

Sports Fans vs. Non-Fans
The real significance of sports to cable becomes more apparent when we dig a little further into the numbers.  In May 2021, among self-described sports fans 39 percent said they had cable subscriptions compared to just 31 percent of non-fans. In 2022, that number fell to 30 percent for sports fans (-9) and to just 18 percent for non-fans (-13 or a whopping 41 percent decline year over year). In 2023 sports fans with cable subscriptions rose one point to 31 percent while non-fans remained steady at just 18 percent.

“For a very long time, cable has been a critical and reliable revenue source for leagues, teams and players,” said Professor Charles Grantham, Director of the Center for Sport Management within Seton Hall’s Stillman School of Business, which sponsors the Poll. “But the media landscape is changing, and it’s in the leagues’ best interest to find the optimal mix of programming for the fans and the associated revenue streams for the teams.”

Where Did They Go?
Streaming giants Netflix and Amazon Prime at 55 and 50 percent respectively among the general public, dominate the list of channels that people subscribe to (although Netflix has yet to contract to show live sports).

Disney+, with 30 percent of the general population subscribing, also beats cable TV subscriptions, and is bundled with ESPN+ and Hulu, which also bests cable TV subscribers with its streaming service. Notably, among sports fans the Disney+ package has gone from 29 percent in 2021 down to 26 percent in 2022 and then back up to 32 percent in 2023. Among non-fans Disney+ held 23 percent in 2021, 25 percent in 2022 and 28 percent in 2023 == with each year non-fans subscribing at a lesser rate than sports fans.

“The trend is clear,” said Daniel Ladik, Marketing Professor in the Stillman School and chief methodologist for the Poll. “Each of the major streaming services added significant sports programing between May 2022 and May 2023. Not surprisingly, almost all of these OTTs are experiencing subscriber growth.”

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Questions, breakdowns and additional charts may be found below; an online version of this release may be found at https://blogs.shu.edu/sportspoll/

Q11. Within your household, including all members of the household, which, if any, of the following media services does the household have a PAID subscription for? Please check all that apply.

N=1,509

 

General

Population

Sports

Fan

Non Fan Avid

Fan

Casual

Fan

Cable TV 26% 31% 18% 33% 30%
Satellite TV 12% 15% 8% 18% 14%
Netflix 55% 57% 51% 56% 58%
Disney+ 30% 32% 28% 36% 30%
Amazon Prime 50% 50% 50% 49% 50%
Hulu 35% 34% 36% 37% 33%
Apple TV + 20% 26% 10% 34% 23%
Peacock 22% 23% 19% 28% 21%
Discovery + 11% 12% 9% 14% 10%
HBO Max 26% 27% 24% 35% 24%
Paramount+ 25% 27% 22% 30% 26%
Other (write in) 6% 6% 7% 3% 3%
Don’t know/No opinion 8% 3% 14% 3% 3%

 

 

Q14. Within your household, including all members of the household, which, if any, of the following media services does the household have a PAID subscription for? Please check all that apply.

General

Pop

May

2022

General

Pop

May

2021

 

D

(%)

Sports

Fan

May

2022

Sports

Fan

May

2021

 

D

(%)

Non

Fan

May

2022

Non

Fan

May

2021

 

D

(%)

Cable TV 25% 36% -11% 30% 39% -9% 18% 31% -13%
Satellite TV 13% 19% -6% 16% 22% -6% 8% 14% -6%
Netflix 47% 51% -4% 44% 53% -9% 52% 48% +4%
Disney+ 26% 26% 0% 26% 29% -3% 25% 23% +2%
Amazon Prime 46% 48% -2% 46% 47% -1% 46% 49% -3%
Hulu 31% 29% +2% 32% 29% +3% 30% 29% +1%
Apple TV + 13% 11% +2% 16% 15% +1% 9% 6% +3%
Peacock 15% 9% +6% 20% 10% +10% 10% 8% +2%
Discovery + 10% 10% 0% 12% 11% +1% 7% 8% -1%
HBO Max 22% 17% +5% 23% 21% +2% 20% 12% +8%
Other (write in) 8% 4% +4% 7% 4% +3% 10% 6% +4%
No opinion 14% 8% +6% 10% 5% +5% 20% 12% +8%

 

ABOUT THE POLL

The Seton Hall Sports Poll, conducted regularly since 2006, is performed by the Sharkey Institute within the Stillman School of Business. This poll was conducted online by YouGov Plc. using a national representative sample weighted according to gender, age, ethnicity, education, income and geography, based on U.S. Census Bureau figures. Respondents were selected from YouGov’s opt-in panel to be representative of all U.S residents. This poll release conforms to the Standards of Disclosure of the National Council on Public Polls. The Seton Hall Sports Poll has been chosen for inclusion in iPoll by Cornell’s Roper Center for Public Opinion Research and its findings have been published everywhere from USA Today, ESPN, The New York Times, Washington Post, AP, and Reuters to CNBC, NPR, Yahoo Finance, Fox News and many points in between.

Media:  Michael Ricciardelli, Associate Director of Media Relations, Seton Hall University
michael.ricciardelli@shu.edu, 908-447-3034; Marty Appel, AppelPR@gmail.com

 

May 2023 Seton Hall Sports Poll Results

This SHSP was conducted May 12th through May 16th and includes responses from 1,509 US adults with a margin of error of +/-2.5%. The sample mirrors the US Census percentages on age, gender, income, education, ethnicity, and region.

 

Data collected for the March 2023 Seton Hall Sports Poll shown in some of the tables below was collected March 6th through March 9th – before the start of the 2023 MLB season.