Are Sports Apps A Threat To Cable And Network TV?

This post is sponsored by Flurry.

Pay for cable? Chances are you do. But with the growing number of subscription streaming services, such as Netflix, Hulu Plus, HBO Go, and, most recently, CBS, that could be changing.

The demand for good television shows no sign of slowing, but how and where people watch their favorite shows is quickly evolving.

A recent report by comScore shows a dramatic shift from traditional television to smart devices and computers. For example, those between 18 and 34 years olds say they watch original TV series on tablets, smartphones, and computers 34% of the time, compared to 66% on television, while 24% say they don't subscribe to pay TV.

Live sports - typically reserved for network and cable TV - have found their way to smart devices and computers. In a recent report by Flurry, the Yahoo mobile analytics firm looked at time spent in 580,000 sports apps that use Flurry Analytics. It found that a significant number of sports fans have turned to smart devices and computers to keep up with scores, trade fantasy players, and watch game highlights. In fact, time spent in sports apps between August 2013 and August 2014 was up 210% across both iOS and Android app stores.

Time spent in football apps grew by 250% year over year. And while people primarily use the apps to follow professional play-by-plays, the instance was even higher with football apps.

The study revealed other valuable insights. For example, people who use sports apps are 12.8 times more likely to be football fans, 2.3 times more likely to be business travelers, and 2.3 times more likely to be single.

Flurry's data suggests sports app users want to consume their sports content wherever they go - at work, while traveling, in front of the TV, or at the game. The tripling of time spent in sports apps is tough to ignore for teams, content providers, and advertisers. And though airing live sports is still cable's stronghold, the trend suggests that reign may be coming to an end.

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