Inscape's Q1 2026 data shows sports viewing grew to 1.8 hours weekly, but traditional TV's dominance is slipping as streaming claimed 12% of sports time—up from 11.5% a year prior.
Even as streaming reshapes the broader TV ecosystem, sports remains one of the biggest forces keeping viewers connected to traditional television. In its Q1 2026 Market Trends Report, Inscape reveals that average weekly sports viewing reached 1.8 hours, up 0.3 hours year over year, with most of that growth coming from traditional and vMVPD platforms.
Speaking of traditional TV, it still dominates sports consumption. More than 66% of all sports viewing time during the quarter came through cable/satellite/OTA platforms, underscoring how valuable live sports continues to be for legacy TV distributors. Streaming, however, is slowly gaining ground. Digital platforms accounted for 12% of sports viewing time in Q1 2026, up 0.5 percentage points year-over-year as more leagues and media companies experiment with streaming-exclusive rights and broader digital distribution.
Additional key takeaways from the report include:
- Cable/satellite/OTA sports viewing rose by 0.2 average weekly hours year-over-year, while vMVPD viewing increased by 0.1 hours, showing that live sports continues to drive engagement across both traditional and internet-delivered linear platforms.
- Average watch-time for the NFL and NBA dipped slightly compared to Q1 2025, down 0.1 hours and 0.2 hours respectively, while NHL viewing increased by 0.1 hours year-over-year.
- Despite those declines in average time spent, reach actually expanded across all three leagues. A larger percentage of smart TVs tuned into NFL, NBA and NHL programming during Q1 2026, with the NBA posting particularly strong growth driven by cable and satellite viewing, which climbed 4.1% year-over-year.
The broader industry implication is becoming harder to ignore: Sports is still one of linear TV’s greatest advantages, but as streaming platforms continue to challenge traditional rights ownership, sports viewing trends could become an increasingly important indicator of where the TV business is headed next.
For more insights, download Inscape’s Q1 2026 TV Market Trends Report here.
Source: themeasure.net