UK Sport and the Media Market Report 2022

The UK Sport and The Media report identifies consumer attitudes towards women’s sport, social media platforms, and the role of media in sport in the UK. This market report covers the market research, market forecast, market statistics and industry trends for the Sports Media market in the UK.

Current Market Landscape

Generation Z is now more likely to watch free sports coverage on social media than on mainstream television, while watching independent shows on YouTube is becoming almost as popular as watching TV highlights and discussion programmes such as Match of the Day among males within this 16-24 demographic.

• Some 68% of all online adults followed sport in the media during the 12 months to February 2022.
• 63% of all online adult fans follow their favourite individuals on social media, rising to 79% among males aged 16-34.
• 62% of people who follow sport in the media do so via social media platforms, rising to 91% of those aged 16- 24.

Macro-economic factors led by the growing cost-of-living crisis could slow the market’s pivot towards subscription services as people are willing to cut back on these if they need to reduce non-essential spending.

Future Market Trends in Sport and The Media

The other major challenges sports media providers face are in encouraging younger fans to widen the range of sports they follow and the channels through which they do so, and persuading older ones to subscribe in greater numbers.

The most immediate opportunity for market growth is around the increasing popularity of women’s sport, while in the longer term new technologies could transform viewing experiences and open new membership models for funding content production.

Read on to discover more details or take a look at all of our UK Leisure market research

Quickly understand

• The impact of COVID-19 and the cost-of-living crisis on sports media consumption.
• The growing media profile of women’s sport.
• The potential benefits of developments in new technologies.
• The role of media in growing interest in new sports.
• The implications of generational differences in sports media preferences and habits.
• The value of sport to social media platforms.

Covered in this report

Brands: The Athletic, Antourage, BT, Discovery, Sony, HSBC, ESPN.

Expert analysis from a specialist in the field

This report, written by David Walmsley, a leading analyst in the Leisure sector, delivers in-depth commentary and analysis to highlight current trends and add expert context to the numbers.

Sport remains one of the most important segments of the media market but needs to encourage younger fans to broaden their interest beyond football and boxing and find new ways of monetising the wider engagement of older followers.

David Walmsley
Senior Leisure Analyst