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Women's sports viewership continues its upward trajectory with the NCAA women's basketball championship game drawing over 8 million viewers and peaking at 9.8 million, per ESPN ratings. While that figure is down over 2024鈥檚 18.5 million, it represents a longer trend of sustained growth in women鈥檚 sports viewership. This phenomenon can no longer be attributed to one single star athlete鈥擟aitlin Clark鈥攂ut to an overall increase in women鈥檚 sports popularity.

Who will be the MLB鈥檚 new streaming partner? As MLB鈥檚 partnership with ESPN is ending, Apple TV+ could eye a deal to expand its sports catalog.

Disney鈥檚 carriage fee dispute game plan: The company blocked access to ESPN and more for DirecTV customers, flexing its power over pay TV providers.

For biddable inventory, US advertisers can now access real-time ad opportunities on Disney+, ESPN, and Hulu through the Disney Ad Server. Canadian marketers can use preferred deals and private marketplaces, expanding programmatic guarantees. Programmatic guaranteed deals鈥攙ideo-on-demand and live inventory on Google Display & Video 360鈥攁re now available for select Latin America inventory.

Brands have heavily invested in March Madness 2025, with ad space across CBS, ESPN, and Warner Bros. Discovery nearly sold out before the tournament began, according to Tubefilter and Adweek. The surge in demand reflects the growing impact of college athletes as cultural influencers, especially through name, image, and likeness (NIL) partnerships.

Per commentary from CEO Bob Iger, the company is further integrating its streaming offerings across Disney+, Hulu, and a forthcoming ESPN direct-to-consumer launch. While Disney said it anticipates a strong fiscal Q3 and 2025, recession fears and potential Hollywood tariffs could weigh on future results, despite the current quarter's gains. By the numbers:.

The news: Disney led TV consumption in January among 14 media distributors, per Nielsen鈥檚 Gauge, largely due to its coverage of the college football playoffs on ESPN. Sports-centric streaming service Fubo also saw noticeable growth, putting it in competition with Comcast Xfinity鈥檚 recently launched bundle focused on sports programming and DirecTV鈥檚 MySports offering. By the numbers:.

Disney also surpasses 10% when its separate brands鈥擧ulu, ESPN, and Disney+鈥攁re combined. Hulu and Disney+ together will capture 10.8% of CTV ad sales in 2026. We do not have an estimate for ESPN ad revenues. OTT companies do earn ad dollars outside of CTV. Subscription OTT services, for instance, will earn $2.48 billion in ad revenues on mobile or other devices in 2026.

ESPN is launching a flagship streaming service in fall 2025. Streaming services like DAZN and ESPN+ offer sports programming with smaller audiences, such as boxing and second-tier college football games. Although there are more digital sports viewers than traditional TV sports viewers, that doesn鈥檛 necessarily mean people are spending more time watching sports digitally.

That could mean exploring digital extensions or niche streaming offerings, similar to what ESPN is planning with its upcoming direct-to-consumer service. The spinoff will allow SpinCo to manage its own financials independently, without being tied to Peacock鈥檚 aggressive streaming investments. Our take: The formation of SpinCo signals that the traditional cable bundle is entering its final stage.

ESPN and Amazon will join NBC as primary basketball broadcasters next season. Our take: NBC's ambitious NBA investment and early marketing push signal its commitment to reclaim a prominent role in sports broadcasting. Success will rest on effectively transitioning viewers from current rightsholders while capitalizing on Peacock's streaming capabilities.

A Post Malone-fronted campaign and media placements on Amazon Thursday Night Football and ESPN are also boosting sales. Our take: Despite considerable uncertainty in the retail landscape, Deckers鈥� Ugg and Hoka brands are well-positioned to continue their hot streak in 2025.

Will streamers band together to create a sports broadcast hub? ESPN is trying to persuade competitors to jump on board, and revenue pressures could sway them.

Disney also surpasses 10% when its separate brands鈥擧ulu, ESPN, and Disney+鈥攁re combined. Hulu and Disney+ together will capture 10.8% of CTV ad sales in 2026. We do not have an estimate for ESPN ad revenues.

MySports will offer access to all the channels that Venu planned to offer, including ESPN and TNT, plus the additional networks like NFL Network and NBA TV. Currently in a public beta, subscriptions start at $69.99 monthly, higher than Venu鈥檚 proposed $42.99 launch price鈥攖hough DirecTV is offering an introductory discount of $49.99 for the first three months.

Amazon and Disney could team up on ESPN: Thursday Night Football could make Amazon a desirable partner for ESPN鈥檚 uncertain streaming future.

Disney and Charter鈥檚 carriage fee clash is a landmark moment: A new deal includes Disney+ and ESPN subscriptions for the linear TV service鈥檚 customers.

On today's podcast episode, we discuss whether the way people watch sports has changed, if Uber and Lyft will ever be able to turn a profit, whether Peacock can keep its head above water, what happened to the TikTok ban, what The Walt Disney Co. should do with ESPN, who's not on the internet, and more. Tune in to the discussion with our forecasting writer Ethan Cramer-Flood and analysts Bill Fisher and Max Willens.

On today's podcast episode, we discuss the main takeaways from this year's Super Bowl; which ads had the biggest impact; how Fox, ESPN, and Warner Bros. Discovery's (WBD's) new giant sports streaming service announcement changes the game; some unbelievable facts about trees; and more. Tune in to the discussion with our forecasting writer Ethan Cramer-Flood, director of forecasting Oscar Orozco, and analyst Max Willens.

On today's podcast episode, we discuss the media companies with the highest TV usage, how ESPN is being maneuvered, how multiple new streaming bundles will change the game, and a tie up between Walmart and Disney for enhanced targeting and measurement across streaming. Tune in to the discussion with our vice president of content Paul Verna.

If Disney鈥檚 standalone D2C ESPN app ever comes to fruition, it would likely become a disruptive player very quickly. People who watch Netflix love it. Netflix鈥檚 active users are deeply engaged, and its user base is so large that it also leads in time spent for the whole country.

Netflix is entering live sports, while ESPN plans a comprehensive streaming app. Single teams' games now appear across up to five different services weekly. Our take: Amazon's positioning at the Upfronts represents a watershed moment in the advertising landscape; the company's blend of premium sports rights and advanced analytics positions it to claim a larger share of TV ad budgets.

ESPN is launching a flagship streaming app that will include all linear content. As 蘑菇AV senior analyst Ross Benes noted in a recent webinar: 鈥淣etflix knows that if it puts $150 million on two Christmas games, it has a rough idea of how many people are going to watch. That's a safer bet than spending that on a movie.鈥�.