September 16, 2025
About half of the public is a sports fan, meaning that they follow sports at least somewhat closely. Only 17% are super fans, or people that follow sports very or extremely closely. Half of adults pay little to no attention to sports at all.
About 4 in 10 fans use sports-only streaming platforms such as ESPN+, MLB TV, NFL Sunday Ticket, or NBA League Pass, including 6 in 10 super fans. Only 6% of non-fans say they subscribe to these streaming platforms.
Three in 10 sports fans watch a game at least a few times a week and another 4 in 10 tune into a game at least once a month. About half of superfans watch a game several times a week and another 4 in 10 watch at least monthly.
Few non-fans watch games regularly. Only about 6% of sports fans say they did not see a game in the past year, compared with about half of non-fans.
Overall, the public tends to watch clips or highlights of sports events at a similar rate as full games. Though just 6% of super fans skip the clips and highlights.
Men are more likely than women to watch the games or highlights.
Among sports fans who use any television or streaming services, 50% are satisfied with the availability of sports events they want to watch, while 26% are dissatisfied. Twenty-four percent of sports fans are neither satisfied nor dissatisfied with the availability of sports on television.
Overall, 40% of the public have subscribed to a streaming service for a specific show or sports season. About a third of the public have cancelled their subscription after that show or season ended. A third say they have shared a password or used someone else’s, but few have cancelled a service because of password restrictions.
Compared to non-sports fans, fans are more likely to sign up for specific programming on streaming services and more likely to cancel their subscription when the programming is over.
The nationwide poll was conducted August 21-25, 2025, using the AmeriSpeak® Panel, the probability-based panel of NORC at the University of Chicago. Online and telephone interviews using landlines and cell phones were conducted with 1,182 adults. The overall margin of sampling error is +/- 3.8 percentage points.
- Suggested Citation: AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. “Half the public are sports fans, but it’s the 1 in 5 who are super fans adopting sports streaming services.” (September 2025). https://apnorc.org/projects/half-the-public-are-sports-fans-but-its-the-1-in-5-who-are-super-fans-adopting-sports-streaming-services/
