Sports fans want simpler ways to find games across streaming services

A new study from Hub Entertainment Research found that sports fans are increasingly frustrated by the growing number of platforms carrying live games, making it harder to find the content they want to watch.

The findings come from the firm’s “Evolution of Sports: What’s the Score?” Wave 5 report, based on a survey of 3,733 U.S. sports fans conducted between December 2025 and January 2026.

According to the study, 87% of sports fans said it is at least somewhat frustrating to figure out where to watch the sports they follow today, with nearly a quarter reporting they feel “very frustrated.”

The report also found strong interest in aggregation tools designed to simplify sports discovery across platforms.

Seventy percent of respondents said ESPN’s “Where to Watch” feature — which identifies where games are available even when they are not on ESPN — would make their sports viewing experience easier. Sixty percent said the same about Roku’s “Sports Zone,” which aggregates sports content within the Roku interface.

The research also highlighted consumer interest in platforms that hold all rights to a particular sport.

Sixty percent of fans said they are more likely to sign up for a service that carries all the rights to a sport they follow, including 30% who said they are “much more likely.” Among avid fans, nearly 40% said they are much more likely to subscribe to such a service.

The study cited the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s new rights agreement with Paramount Global as an example of consolidated rights attracting fan interest. The deal places all UFC events, including numbered events, across Paramount’s networks and streaming platforms.

Advertisement

Eighty-nine percent of avid UFC fans said the new agreement makes a Paramount+ subscription more valuable, including about one-third who described it as “extremely” more valuable.

Among current Paramount+ subscribers who are avid UFC fans, 93% said the deal makes them more likely to keep their subscription, including 71% who said they are “much more likely” to remain subscribed.

Among avid UFC fans who do not currently subscribe to Paramount+, 72% said they are more likely to sign up, with nearly one-third saying they would “definitely” subscribe.

“Fans will go to great lengths to watch the sports they care about—but that doesn’t mean they enjoy hunting across multiple apps to find them,” said Jon Giegengack, principal at Hub Entertainment Research and one of the study’s authors.

“Services that simplify the experience of watching sports—whether through discovery tools or by consolidating rights to an entire sport—are delivering more value to fans. And more value means more satisfied users and lower churn,” he said.