One in four sports fans can’t find the game, Gracenote’s six-country study finds

Sports rights have never been spread across more channels and apps, and viewers are feeling it. In a study released on September 1, Gracenote, Nielsen’s content data business, found that 26% of sports fans always or often cannot work out which channel or streaming service is showing the event they want. Among 18- to 34-year-olds the figure climbs to 36%, against 16% for viewers over 65.

The “Home Screen Advantage” report surveyed roughly 3,000 adults who watch sports on TV, about 500 each in Australia, Brazil, Germany, Mexico, the UK and the US, between June 29 and July 8. Searching online is the default workaround, used by 68% of respondents, yet 32% say those searches frequently fail to return the local channel or service, a complaint voiced by 47% of the youngest group.

The demand side is unambiguous. 85% of fans want their TV’s home screen to show upcoming games and where to watch them, ranging from 72% in Germany to 96% in Mexico. 91% say a single place that gathers sports information would make finding games easier, and 67% are interested in personalised schedules and statistics. Beyond live matches, 77% watch related programming such as analysis and documentaries, and 38% prefer highlights to full games.

Why it matters

For platforms, the friction is also a churn risk. Two-thirds of respondents already pay for at least one service to get sports and half say they would likely add another, so the audience is willing to spend but not to hunt. Trent Wheeler, head of product innovation at Gracenote, argued that leagues keep adding ways to engage while “viewers still struggle to find live games.” Gracenote, naturally, sells the fix: its On Sports API covers more than 75 sports and 340 leagues in over 50 countries.

For advertisers, the study sharpens a known tension on connected TV. The home screen is prime ad inventory for Samsung, LG, Roku and Amazon, and every row given to sports discovery is a row not sold to a brand. As PPC Land notes, the group most affected by discovery problems is the same 18-34 cohort that is hardest to reach on linear TV and most willing to subscribe, which makes it expensive to frustrate.

What’s next

Expect device makers and operators to test sports-first home screens ahead of the 2026-27 season and the run-up to the 2028 Olympics, with sponsored “where to watch” modules as a likely compromise between discovery and monetisation. Full country tables are in the Gracenote release.