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Fall sports own the American living room, and brands have a prime opportunity to own the moment. Millions of consumers tune in for NFL Sundays, college football Saturdays, and Major League Baseball’s October postseason, creating a powerful environment where attention, emotion, and engagement are already built in. For advertisers, it’s a chance to reach massive, highly engaged audiences in real time and turn the energy of live sports into meaningful consumer connections and stronger brand impact.
Here’s a preview of what CivicScience’s consumer-declared data from the Fall Sports Viewership at a Glance report reveal about fall sports fans as the fall slate ramps up:
Football Sets the Pace, but Broad Viewing Offers Big Potential
Watching sports this fall will be common, as two-thirds (67%) of American adults say they plan to watch at least one professional or collegiate sport. While football is the unsurprising leader among planned viewers, Americans will be attuned to a wide range of options beyond the gridiron. The MLB playoffs, where the Los Angeles Dodgers are chasing a World Series three-peat, draw interest from more than a third of fall sports viewers.
The WNBA playoffs, building on the momentum of women’s sports, attract interest from 19% of fall sports viewers, narrowly trailing the NHL and NBA. Soccer falls at the less popular end of the scale, but it’s worth noting that, months after the FIFA World Cup, viewers are slightly more likely to watch international soccer leagues than they are to watch MLS.
Streaming Subscription Intent Climbs, While Watching Sports Is Rarely a Solo Activity
CivicScience data suggest an increasing share of sports fans will sign up for a new streaming service specifically to watch fall and winter sports — 41% say they plan to subscribe this year, up from 35% at this time last year. One caveat: as more games move to streaming platforms, a subscription is increasingly necessary to follow certain teams or sports. Still, retention is notable as 48% of these likely subscribers say they tend to keep their sports subscriptions year-round.
Additional data show that sports viewing is also a shared experience. Nearly half (45%) of fall sports viewers say they’re ‘always’ or ‘often’ watching sports with someone else when they watch on TV or online. Just 13% say they ‘never’ watch with anybody else. And although Gen Z viewers are the most likely to watch with others, they’re far from the only ones taking part in this practice. For instance, just over one-third of Baby Boomers who are sports viewers ‘always’ or ’often’ watch with others, while only 21% ‘never’ do it.
For advertisers, rising streaming intent means more opportunities to put campaigns in front of engaged sports fans, while shared viewing means those ads often reach more than one person at a time.
These insights offer a small glimpse into the fall sports viewer. The full Fall Sports Viewership at a Glance report leverages CivicScience’s declared intent data to provide brands and advertisers with key intelligence on this high-value audience, from second-screen engagement during games and ad recall to early holiday shopping. Grounding your campaign strategy in consumer-reported truth like helps keep your brand front and center all season long.
