Key Takeaways
- 40% of fans want faster access to the moments they already care about, and 39% want deeper personalization, well ahead of any appetite for new platforms or formats.
- 52% are comfortable with AI operating behind the scenes, and their top priorities for it are smarter recommendations (49%) and stronger personalization (47%).
- 59% of fans say they’re more likely to purchase after watching personalized highlights, and 68% say they’d spend more over time if a platform understood their preferences better.
Sports media is competing for attention against every other digital experience, not just other broadcasters, and relevance is what decides where that attention goes.
According to WSC Sports’ latest report, The Future of Watching Sports, 68% of U.S. fans say they’d spend more on a platform that understands their preferences.
Our survey examined how fans experience that competition, along with their attitudes toward innovation, AI adoption, and the link between personal relevance and spending.
Nearly 50% of respondents said that for them it was more important to see the moment they like best than to get general highlights quicker. Only 18% said they prioritize how quickly the highlights arrive.
Beyond speed and personalization, fans point to better storytelling and more control over the moments and angles they choose.
1. Content Overload is a Discovery Problem
Fans aren’t short on things to watch. Forty-six percent say there’s too much irrelevant content in their feed, and 39% say they struggle to find the moments they actually care about.
Ask fans what they actually want and the picture sharpens. The answers cluster around access and relevance rather than any single missing feature. 40% want faster access to the moments they’re already looking for. 39% want more personalized experiences.
Key takeaway: The opportunity is in making the right content easier to find, faster.
2. Personal Relevance is a Revenue Lever
The commercial case for personalization shows up directly in behavior, not just preference. 59% of fans say they’re more likely to purchase when highlights are personalized to them. 68% say they’d spend more over time if a platform understood their preferences better.
When asked what would move them from watching to buying, personal relevance outranked every other factor, including limited-time offers and official branding, by a wide margin. 54% call personal relevance essential or very important when a purchase option appears alongside a highlight. Only 15% say it doesn’t matter to them.
Key finding: personal relevance is now a majority expectation, not a niche preference, and every offer that misses it costs a rights holder ground in a relationship
3. Fans Want AI Working Underneath the Experience
Comfort with AI is already high. 52% say they’re comfortable with AI operating behind the scenes of their sports experience, and 66% describe themselves as positive or cautiously open to its role overall.
What fans want AI to actually do is narrow and practical. 49% point to smarter content recommendations. 47% want AI to improve personalization directly. Both answers describe getting the right moment to the right person faster, using data the platform already has.
Key takeaway: Fans see the benefit of AI being involved, they just dont want to ‘feel’ it
Fans Will Pay for Personalization and Control
People aren’t against paying for what they value. Consistently pairing relevant highlights with offers and merchandise increases the likelihood of a purchase, because the offer lands on something the fan already chose to watch.
That’s the case for giving fans more control over their experience: the more say they have in what they see, the more that attention converts into revenue.
Click here to read the entire report.
