Published September 22
Sports fandom has quickly turned into a year-round lifestyle.
The World Cup was just one example of this: It ignited excitement in the U.S. for soccer that has spilled into Major League Soccer (MLS).
The MLS, which paused its season for The World Cup, has historically run from February through December while top international teams follow a summer to spring calendar. But that is changing in 2027, when the MLS will align its schedule more closely with global leagues. This move will be “building on the attention that is already there,” MLS Vice President of Brand Marketing, Marcela Garcia, recently told The Current.
A new report by The Trade Desk Intelligence and PA Consulting released this week puts concrete numbers behind the breadth of sports fandom, finding that fans follow four sports on average throughout the year.
The report was in part based on a survey of 3,500 sports fans across the U.S., U.K., Germany, France, Italy, Spain and Saudi Arabia. Eighty percent of those surveyed say that they stay engaged with a sport across all five stages of its “life cycle”: buildup before the game, during the game, postgame analysis, between game updates and offseason buzz.
Only one channel spanned every stage: connected TV (CTV). And 83% of respondents said that they use CTV to stay engaged with sports, more than any other channel.
But it’s more important than ever for advertisers to appear across multiple touchpoints and channels of the fan journey, from news media to podcasts. A recent WARC report, for instance, showed that sports podcast consumption surges in the days after a major event.
The TTDI data bears that out; 87% of respondents were likely to engage with another connected channel after using one — such as podcasts, gaming and sports news sites — and 67% agreed that exposure to sports content via CTV or podcasts prompted engagement with quality sports websites.
Another recent study also reasserts this: According to Hub Entertainment Research, 62% of sports fans under 35 use a second screen to stay more connected to the game during live sports events. While a second screen during scripted programs is more likely a distraction, 89% of respondents said they use a second screen to follow live stats.
So advertisers should be across multiple touchpoints, channels and even screens to fully take advantage of consumer behavior, particularly for young people.
“Most sports marketing strategies are still built around isolated, event-based buying, which severely limits their full potential,” Ria Madrid, vice president of global advertising at Wurl, recently told The Current. “Without the ability to connect these touchpoints, brands miss opportunities to engage fans consistently and within context — especially during high-attention moments outside of the live broadcast.”