While Germans continue to spend cautiously on discretionary items in the face of economic uncertainty and multiple crises, the number of live sports viewers is on the rise. 45% of Germans watched live sports in the 12 months to March 2025, up from 34% in March 2023. This increase is driven by a heightened demand for sweet escapes and mood boosting experiences during tough times, which spectator sports offer.
With a diversifying media entertainment market, moving from traditional free-TV to online and streaming platforms, including social media, audiences are presented with more options than ever. This means the competitive landscape for spectator sport brands is evolving, forcing them to innovate to maintain consumer screen time.
To engage audiences in a competitive market, spectator sports brands need to make watching sports more entertaining. This can include flexible rules for added excitement, cross-category collaborations for products like fashionable merchandise or new broadcasting methods, such as social media streams. They can also use technologies to enhance the viewing experience. For example, AR overlays can provide real-time match stats, live chats can enable fan interaction and personalisation options, such as the ability to choose camera angles, can make the viewing experience more immersive.
This report looks at the following areas:
- Growing demand for spectator sports, highlighting trending sports and how brands can deliver uplifting experiences in challenging times
- Emerging opportunities for brands to engage younger audiences through innovations
- Consumer interest in additional offerings that brands can use to drive upsells, engagement and loyalty
- Key barriers to sports viewership and strategies to up participation
- Attitudes and behaviours towards spectator sports, with a spotlight on sponsorships and women’s sports
With rising viewership, spectator sports provide Germans with a mood booster in tough economic times. However, in a competitive media landscape, brands need to innovate with a focus on entertainment to stay relevant.
Silvia Hondt, Senior Research Analyst
Market Definitions
This Report focuses on German adults’ experience of watching live spectator sport, either at an event venue or broadcast via television or the internet. Listening to live radio commentary and watching television highlights or live coverage on a time-shift basis are not included in the core definition of the Report.
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
- What you need to know
- Opportunities
- Outlook
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OPPORTUNITIES
- Build on the affective and social power of spectator sports
- Embrace rising participation in times of crisis
- Leverage the mood-boosting effects of watching sports
- Transform spectator sports into social hubs
- Balance traditional sports viewing habits with a push for innovation
- Revolutionise sports with a focus on entertaining match formats
- Make it big
- Innovate through cross-category collaborations
- Rethink financing models to foster participation
- Elevate tech to enhance the viewing experience
- Make sports watching more immersive…
- …with emerging tech
- Promote the benefits of tech to resonate with younger audiences
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CONSUMER
- Live sports watched
- Participation in watching live sports is rising across generations…
- Graph 1: participation in watching live sports in the last 12 months, by generation, 2022, 2025
- …with sport viewers watching more types of sports
- Graph 2: repertoire of types of sports watched live, 2023, 2025
- Germans watch sport to find relief
- Football maintains its lead
- Graph 3: live sports watched in the last 12 months, 2023, 2025
- Tennis experiences a renaissance…
- …influencing launches in other categories
- American football struggles in a competitive sports market
- Let me entertain you
- Football lacks interest among younger generations…
- …with new types of football entering the market
- Fast pace and thrilling atmosphere
- Embrace family sports fever
- Help families to spend time outdoors…
- …and appeal to Gen Alpha as an emerging target group
- Methods of watching live sports
- TV makes the superstar
- Graph 4: methods of watching live sports in the last 12 months – NET, 2023, 2025
- Leverage social watching experiences to increase participation among women
- Embrace the atmosphere of ice hockey and football events
- Graph 5: methods of watching live sports in the last 12 months, by type of sports, 2025
- Strengthen ties with ice hockey fans
- The fight for broadcasting rights
- Interest in additional spectator sports offers
- Capitalise on the interest in additional offers
- Graph 6: interest in additional offer from athletes/sports teams, 2025
- Boost mood to increase spending
- Capture Gen Z’s loyalty through fan engagement…
- …and community-building initiatives
- Leverage tech to improve the viewing experience…
- … in a competitive entertainment market…
- …by taking inspiration from Netflix and Google for second screen usage
- Barriers towards watching live sports
- Attending sports events isn’t for everyone…
- Graph 7: barriers towards watching live sports at an event, by participation in watching live sports, 2025
- …and the same holds for live sports coverage
- Graph 8: barriers towards watching live sports coverage, by participation in watching live sports, 2025
- Show non-sports viewers that watching sports is not only about the sport
- Use price incentives to engage sports viewers
- Attitudes and behaviours
- Sponsorships are a fundamental part of sports
- Graph 9: behaviours towards spectator sports, 2025
- Focus on family-friendly sponsors
- Leverage sponsorships to foster honest communication…
- …and make influencer collaboration more effective
- adidas redefines being German
- GUCCI x Head show their shared passion
- Promote sports betting beyond football
- Tap into the excitement for women’s sports
- Combine women’s sport with charitable initiatives to engage with fans
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MARKET DRIVERS
- The impact of the economy on spectator sports
- Inflation is slowing in some categories…
- …with still rising prices for sports events
- Graph 10: consumer price index by category, 2024-25
- Spending remains cautious during multiple crises
- Health
- Younger generations’ health is at the tipping point
- Graph 11: perception of general health for a person of one’s own age (NET), by generations, December 2024**
- Graph 12: perception of general health for a person of one’s own age (NET), by generations, January 2024*
- Times of crisis dampen spirits…
- …and social connections are needed
- Media landscape
- Germans seek a variety of media entertainment…
- Graph 13: usage of free media formats at least once a week, 2023 vs 2024
- …with a shift towards online entertainment
- Changing expectations for media entertainment
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APPENDIX
- Report scope and definitions
- Market definition
- Generations
- Abbreviations
- Methodology – consumer research
- Consumer research methodology
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