Shutterstock image Gracenote: Live Sports Program Streaming Surges 52% Year-Over-Year, Led by Paramount+ Erik Gruenwedel February 19, 2026 Gracenote, the content data business unit of Nielsen, has found that sports program offerings across the top five subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) services jumped 52% year-over-year. This sharp increase, identified in the latest Gracenote Data Hub update, underscores the importance of sports content (live games and related content) to providers’ audience engagement strategies. Over the past year, Paramount+ has vaulted past Prime Video and Netflix to lead in streaming sports programming at the individual game and event level. Following its acquisition of UFC broadcast rights from ESPN starting in January, the service now delivers more than twice the sports content of any SVOD platform, up 219%. During the same period, the Disney+ sports catalog contracted 23%. At the same time, streaming content growth has extended beyond subscription platforms to free ad-supported no-cost, no-commitment services. Gracenote’s analysis of 2,060 FAST channels available worldwide revealed that sports content on FAST grew 30%, led by the live-stream of Super Bowl LIX on AVOD platform Tubi on Feb. 9, 2025. With more than 200 dedicated news channels now available, news programming on free ad-supported streaming services increased 58%. Movies and TV shows available on FAST rose 26% and 24%, respectively, according to Gracenote. Subscribe HERE to the FREE Media Play News Daily Newsletter! Related Posts Roku Simplifies Live Sports Streaming Access Roku Nov. 10 announced it has expanded access to third-party live sports channels on the Roku platform, including a centralized location for browsing sports content and seeing where it’s available to watch. The new sports page is a visual, immersive… Roku Launching Live Sports Streaming Channel Aug. 12 Roku Aug. 7 announced the pending (Aug. 12) launch of Roku Sports Channel, a free ad-supported channel that combines all of the platform's sports content into a dedicated platform. Featured content will include live Major League Baseball games with MLB… Netflix Considering Live Sports Streaming Since its streaming video inception, Netflix has steadfastly refused to consider offering live sports to its global subscribers, citing the unending escalating rights associated with major sports such as the MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL and MLS, among others. That mindset… Turner Bowing Live Sports Streaming Service As expected, Turner Sports will launch a live-sports streaming service in April. Dubbed, “Bleacher Report Live,” after the B/R online sports information platform, the service will initially be free, with “flexible” pricing plans to be rolled out later. The platform… Author Erik Gruenwedel Posted on February 19, 2026 February 23, 2026 Categories Digital , News , Research , Sports , Streaming Tags Gracenote , Live-Streaming , Sports -->
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