The vast increase in TV and online video content is turning millennials away from sport, according to the latest Ampere Analysis report.
The report states that demographic and cultural shifts are “changing the way younger audiences view sport”, suggesting that the availability of online video services such as Netflix and Amazon is having an adverse effect on the issue.
According to Ampere’s statistics, ten per cent chose sport as their favourite genre of content, with just 11 per cent of that total being young millennials.
Forty-six per cent of those who identified sports as their favourite genre were aged 45 and over.
“The shift in perception of sport among younger consumers should ring alarm bells for traditional media companies reliant on high value – and increasingly high cost – sports rights,” said Ampere Analysis director, Richard Broughton.
“Younger consumers are turning off sport in favour of scripted and social video content including comedy, sci-fi, romance and action and adventure. Clearly a ‘one-size fits all’ content strategy will not last as a pan-generational plan.”
Ampere noted that US audiences for this summer’s Rio Olympic Games were down compared to the London 2012 games, and said that in the UK in 2016 the average weekly viewing of a collection of sports channels – including Sky Sports, BT Sport and Eurosport – is down 9 per cent compared to 2010.
“Young millennials are being lured away from sport by today’s huge choice of TV and online video content. They are much more likely to indicate a preference for scripted or unscripted comedy and action content than older viewers,” according to the report.
