Streaming platforms are in a constant state of reinvention, partnering, acquiring, and pouring money into niche interests to keep up with shifting consumer tastes. Netflix’s investment in true crime is just one example of how platforms are chasing audiences wherever attentions meander.
Live sports, meanwhile, have quietly become a major battleground. Streaming live events isn’t new, but it’s never been more central to how fans watch. According to Parks Associates’ S.O.S. State of Streaming report, a growing number of viewers now rely on streaming services as their primary way to tune into games and matches.
Netflix Snags a Franchise Player
The stakes are only getting higher. Last year marked the one-year anniversary of Netflix’s $5-billion, 10-year deal with WWE to bring Monday Night Raw to the platform. Now, the platform is doubling down, expanding that partnership to become the U.S. home for WWE’s library of Premium Live Events—including WrestleMania, SummerSlam, and Royal Rumble—alongside documentaries and original programming.
It’s clear that sports streaming has officially moved from experiment to centerpiece. In an era of subscription fatigue and rising prices, live sports have emerged as an asset viewers are still willing to pay for.
A recent Parks Associates survey found that approximately 40% of U.S. consumers watch sports only via streaming services, while 19% watch exclusively on cable. How quaint of them. Survey results also showed that 60% of U.S. consumers have subscribed to a general streaming service (e.g., Peacock, Apple TV+) to watch a sporting event or purchase a league pass that was only available on that service.
Perhaps more notably, these platforms retain 63% of subscribers after the sporting event or season concludes. We’d like to know how many of those subscribers simply forgot to cancel—we have a hunch it’s more than a few. Regardless, sports streaming has become quite the cash cow.
Rising Prices Push Consumers to Make Concessions… and Not the Hot Dog Kind
Netflix’s addition of WWE’s library follows last year’s price increases, which left many frustrated subscribers reassessing their options: 6 in 10 Americans changed their streaming habits in response to climbing subscription prices:
Nearly half of Americans have canceled or downgraded a subscription, citing affordability and a lack of compelling content as the top reasons, according to Reach3 Insights and Rival Technologies.
So what are people watching? Netflix comes out on top as the most essential streaming platform, preferred by 68% of Americans. Hulu came in second at 33%, while 25% voted for Amazon Prime.
As corporations continue to leverage every instrument in the capitalist toolbox—whether it’s shrinkflation or foisting ads on subscribers unwilling or unable to keep up with rising prices—some streamers, at least, may find the pill easier to swallow in the glow of WWE’s WrestleMania, streamed on America’s favourite streaming platform.
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