YouTube is the most popular social app for viewing sports highlights according to a Ring Digital fall survey, topping Facebook, which was No. 1 in a similar survey in 2017.
The survey found that 55% of the 75 million sports video highlights consumers turned to YouTube on a regular basis, compared to 45% using Facebook. YouTube is up 10 percentage points from 2017, while Facebook dropped 18 points.
Ring Digital estimates that the U.S. addressable market for direct-to-consumer monetization of sports highlights is worth between $2.7 billion and $4.5 billion.
“This data shows that social media is still King for sports videos highlights. But the popular
destinations have shifted dramatically. YouTube and Instagram rose, Facebook declined,” said Brian Ring, Principal Analyst of Ring Digital llc and producer of the FutureOfTV.Live series of research reports.
Sports fans said their go-to apps for sports highlights was a social media app, up 10 points. TV network apps were up four points to 28%.
“The good news for the TV ecosystem is that the TV Networks are still in the game, at least, to monetize premium sports highlights. League Apps have lost ground. Rights holders concerned about re-balancing the dominance and economics of Social Media will see this data as a call-to-action to re-balance content strategies,” Ring said.
The report also found that 24% of fans want to watch funny, unusual moments in games, 27% want highlight of exciting game accounts, 44% want augmented reality features, 53% want an advanced video user experience.
