Hulu Celebrates First Year of Streaming Live Sports

During our first year of streaming live sports we have watched the Philadelphia Eagles win the Super Bowl, celebrated the Golden State Warriors taking home the NBA championship…again, rooted for the Washington Capitals during their Stanley Cup run and cheered for the US Men’s Curling Team when they took home the gold medal at the Winter Olympics. It’s been quite a year to say the least, and we’ve loved celebrating all the slam dunks, touchdowns and goals with you along the way.

We’ve also learned a lot about how fans watch live sports on Hulu — and what they watch when they’re NOT enjoying sports — as well as the leagues and teams that were cheered for most. Here’s a look at the top sports moments on Hulu from the past year.

Sports are Hulu’s real MVP

Since launching Hulu with Live TV last year, sports has quickly become the #1 draw for our live TV viewers. In fact, 3 out of 4 viewers are watching sports regularly, clocking in a total of 94,000 hours of live sports viewing per day – that’s nearly 11 years of sports watched on Hulu every day!

Texas is tops in streaming college football

A touchdown for Texas! The Lone Star state streamed more than 348K hours of college football last season, beating Ohio and California, which came in 2nd and 3rd, respectively.

Hulu viewers watched TWICE as many World Cup hours than traditional TV viewers

Despite the seven hour time difference between the US and Russia, Hulu viewers were committed to watching all the goals, penalty kicks and celebrations along the way. Nearly half (48%) of Hulu with Live TV viewers tuned into the World Cup, each watching an average of 12 hours throughout the tournament. Compare that to an average of 5.5 hours per viewer on traditional television [i].

Sports are 3X more likely to be streamed on mobile than any other content

Whether you’re re-tweeting your favorite sports commentator, checking out your latest fantasy stats or scrolling through your news feed to read about your favorite team – your mobile device has been your real MVP. In fact, Hulu sports fans are 3X more likely to watch live sports on their mobile than any other content.

And the award goes to…

The Emmys aren’t the only awards being announced this month. The ballots are in, and the award for the most streamed teams (based on hours watched) in each professional sports league are:

– Cleveland Cavaliers

– Dallas Cowboys

– Minnesota Wild

– New York Yankees

NBA reigns supreme in Hulu’s power rankings

While football may be America’s most beloved sport, our research begs to differ. Whether you root for the Warriors, Celtics or Lakers, there’s one thing basketball fans can agree on – the NBA is the supreme league. Last season, Americans applied a full court press watching more than 11 million hours of NBA games on Hulu – more than any other major sports league.

Sitcoms and reality TV. A match made in sports fan heaven?

After the emotional rollercoaster of watching their favorite team lose (or win!) in the final minutes, Hulu viewers are turning to sitcoms and reality TV for a breather between games. The top three shows viewers are watching live when sporting events are not streaming are The Big Bang Theory, Family Guy and Fixer Upper.

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Methodology

Overall data based on Hulu with Live TV viewing trends between July 2017 and July 2018.

[i] Nielsen nPower R&F Program Report, L+7 viewing, 6/14/2018-7/15/2018