体育之巅：塑造2026年体育营销的媒体趋势

Tops of Sports From the initial whistle to the final buzzer, sports captivate our hearts andattention. 2025 proved to be monumental for sports, with significant events Globally, soccer dominated headlines with The FIFA Club World Cup 25™held in the U.S. and the UEFA European Women‘s Championship. Women‘ssports continued their rise in prominence, featuring major tournaments like In the U.S., major leagues kept fans engaged. Super Bowl LIX made historyby attracting over 127 million viewers, marking a new record for televisionviewership. October 27th also brought a rare “sports equinox,“ where gamesfrom five different leagues—MLB, NFL, NHL, NBA, and MLS—all took place To thrive in today’s competitive global sports market, brand sponsors,advertisers, media rights holders, and leagues and teams need tounderstand the drivers of fan behavior in 2025 to effectively plan for key We analyzed the major trends that shaped the U.S. sports media landscapein 2025 to better understand how sports connect fans, platforms and Top sports media trendsfrom 2025 Sports viewers and fanbases are growing,unlocking pathways for brand sponsors to tap Streaming is evolving how sports are deliveredand consumed, keeping fan attention for longer Brand sponsors have valuable opportunitiesto maximize exposure and earn trust with Soccer buildsmomentum Women’s sportscontinue to The MLBPostseason is Basketball delivers onbrand sponsorship Multi-platform success:Linear and streaming Streaming sportsdocumentaries create Table of 8 10 Game planfor 2026 Golf is in thegreen withgrowing audiences How Nielsencan help 12 11 13 Soccer buildsmomentum Figure 1 U.S. viewing to international soccer tournamentshas been growing International soccer tournamentsaverage total viewers in millions Soccer by far is the most popular sport globally, with 51%of people on average saying they’re fans. However, just Nonetheless, viewing of international soccer tournamentsin the U.S. has been on the rise. Last year, the averageaudience for Copa América more than doubled comparedto 2021, and this year, both the UEFA Women’s Euro andthe CONCACAF Gold Cup saw significant increases. In fact, 37% of the general population in the U.S.expect their interest in the sport to increase over the This is good news as the FIFA World Cup 26™ approaches.With games to be hosted across North America, includingseveral major U.S. cities, World Cup fans plan to immerse The MLB Postseason isboosting diverse baseball Figure 2 The MLB Postseason is gaining diverse viewership withHispanic and Asian audiences Audience composition, postseason for major sports In a nail-biter game seven of the World Series this year, the L.A.Dodgers clinched Major League Baseball’s World Series for thesecond year in a row. This marked the end of a playoff season thatnotched 58.2 billion viewing minutes, up 24% from the prior year. Dodgers star and 2024 National League MVP Shohei Ohtani,nicknamed “Sho-time,” not only helped win the series. He’s alsoattracting broader audiences for the MLB. From a cultural perspective,excitement around Ohtani’s star status has helped to boost Asian Ohtani and the Dodgers’ influence was also evident during the 2025MLB Tokyo Series where Asian American viewership increased113% compared to the 2024 Seoul Series. Black, Hispanic andtotal audiences also grew their viewing for this international This year’s MLB season ending on a strong note overall has helpedto attract energized and diverse audiences. For example, the 2025MLB Postseason attracted the highest percentage of Hispanic viewers(14.3%) out of all major pro sports, and the overall MLB audience For brands, networks and advertisers, this is a moment to reimaginethe fanbase—not as a static demographic segment, but as an evolving Women’s sportscontinue to grow 2025 again saw women’s sports grab headlines—a trendthat we’ve seen over the past few years. In the U.S.,leagues like the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL), The NWSL, in particular, saw a 5% increase in viewership.And their fanbase is also growing. The league has 39.3million fans this year, up from 30.8 million in 2023.Further insights reveal that currently 64% of NWSL’s In 2024, women represented 47% of fans of women’ssports, up from 45% in 20221. In fact, a recent case studyprojected that 60% of women’s football fans globally willbe female by 2030—becoming one of the few sports This year also saw two major international tournaments forwomen’s rugby and cricket, which have seen female fans Basketball delivers onbrand sponsorship In total, the top 10 most valuable sports team sponsorship assetsdelivered almost $515 million in media value for brands in 2025. Much of this reflects the amount of airtime NBA and MLBsponsorships get due to the amount of games played. For example,the NBA includes 1,230 regular season games compared to the NFL’s272 regular season games—approximately 4.5x more opportunitiesfor brand exposure. National