While European stay-at-home viewers consumed more television than ever, the ability to monetise these audiences was impacted hugely without sport and after hitting historic lows during March and April 2020, time spent streaming sport has recovered to pre-Covid-19 levels in June according to research from Conviva.
The Return of Sport in the Time of Coronavirus report found that in Europe, the streaming share sport commanded plunged to just 3% compared with entertainment’s 97% at the height of the pandemic. As of June — with the welcome return of major sports, in particular leading football leagues such as the Bundesliga in May and then La Liga, the Premier League, and Serie A in the second half of June — sport exceeded the 30% share typical of pre-Covid viewing bs sport viewing time surged 24% higher at the end of June compared with the baseline set in the first week of March.
The study also showed that time spent streaming entertainment content scaled heights in the midst of shelter-in-place orders, up 65% in early April, and has since decreased with the ascent in sport viewing. This shift said Conviva indicated how viewers were exchanging entertainment viewing with sports. News consumption also decreased slightly from the earlier soaring heights, up 180% in mid-April, but said Conviva remains durable with viewing time still double what it was pre-Covid, up 98% at the end of June.
Looking at the performance of individual leagues in the streaming arena, Conviva found that leagues that returned most recently enjoyed the largest increases. Serie A led as teams delivered 117% more posts and 68% more videos on average in the second half of June as compared to the first. This translated to a 289% increase in views and 63% increase in engagements for Serie A. The Premier League was runner-up with the second largest increase in posting frequency, with teams in the league that was just won by Liverpool increasing their posts by 61% and videos by 40% on average, which translated to a 33% increase in video views and 21% increase in engagements.
In addition to streaming, European sports-related social media engagement skyrocketed, up 30% across all teams, including the league account, within Bundesliga, La Liga, Premier League, and Serie A in the second half of June as compared to the first half of the month. In the same time period, video views increased by 82%, videos posted increased by 31%, and posts increased by 55% for these accounts.
In conclusion, The Return of Sport in the Time of Coronavirus report posited the question that if Europe was indicative of what the return of sport will look like worldwide, sport broadcasters should take solace as viewers can’t watch enough. It added that streaming and social media are both obvious winners in the return of sport, with more heights to reach as leagues around the world schedule returns in the coming months.