Linear TV has traditionally been the venue for live sports viewing, in many cases drawing larger viewing audiences than other programming types. That’s no longer a given according to a new study from LG Ad Solutions– Stadium to Screen: Streaming Live Sports in 2024. The research was conducted through an online panel in January to discover the TV viewing preferences of sports fans.

The panel found that three in four Canadian CTV users watch live sports via streaming applications. In fact, the study found that Canadian CTV users stream live sports across multiple streaming apps – with 28% using three or more, creating a highly-competitive sports streaming landscape.

In addition, Canadian sports fans watch more than one sport with CTV viewers following an average of five to six different sports. Nearly half (44%) watch more than five hours of live sports per week. More than half (69%) of Canadian viewers are likely to pay attention to ads while watching live sports. By category, entertainment, alcohol/beverages, travel, and restaurants garner the highest consumer attention – with a proviso. They want more personalization in advertising. A majority (70%) say they wish TV ads during sports events were more relevant to them, and 76% say they tend to remember the ads that are relevant. A large number of sports fans (72%) would like to see scores and updates within the ads themselves.

Almost all (92%) of CTV users have watched sports at least once in the past year with hockey (62%) and American football (42%) the most watched. Basketball (36%), baseball (30%), soccer (29%) and Olympic events (27%) are the men’s sports Canadians are watching. Looking at Women’s sports, Olympic events (25%), hockey (23%), tennis (21%), soccer (18%) and basketball (18%) are the most watched.

The top streaming apps Canadians use to watch sports are Sportsnet (40%), Prime Video (33%) and TSN Direct (28%). Other services viewed for sports are CBC, the NHL app, Paramount+, DAZN and theScore. As with most TV viewing, sports fans (83%) are multitasking while watching live sports with 63% messaging, 41% browsing social media, 36% playing games, 28% shopping online and 17% streaming other content.