Streaming services will account for a fifth of global sports rights spend in 2025, according to research by Ampere Analysis.
Streamers combined spend on sports rights will reach $12.5bn this year, representing 20% of the $64bn total spend.
Much of this growth will be driven by the expanding sports budgets of general entertainment streamers such as Netflix and Amazon, according to Ampere.
However, dedicated sports streaming platform DAZN will maintain its position as the world’s top spender on sports rights.
DAZN will account for one-third of streaming spend on sports in 2025, boosted by its $1bn deal for the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup. DAZN's share of the global sports rights market will be even higher once the acquisition of Foxtel in Australia completes.
Ampere noted that general entertainment platforms are increasingly turning to sports to drive growth. Amazon is the second top streaming spender, with its share increasing from 18% to 23% following its acquisition of NBA rights from the 2025-26 season onwards. Other major rights held by Amazon include NFL Thursday Night Football in the US and UEFA Champions League in Germany, Italy and the UK.
YouTube TV remains in third place. Its deal for the NFL Sunday Ticket is worth a reported $2bn per season.
Netflix is now the fourth biggest streaming investor in sports rights following its three-year agreement to show Christmas Day NFL games and its $500m per year deal with WWE which started in 2025. Ampere noted that Netflix gained around 1.5m sign-ups in the US following the recent Paul/Tyson boxing match. 80% of these were still active one month later. The streamer signed up almost 700,000 subs for its NFL Christmas Day games.
Danni Moore, Senior Analyst at Ampere Analysis said: “Over the last five years, streamers’ share of investment in sports rights has increased for two main reasons. The first is the growth of DAZN as a specialist sport streamer. In particular, DAZN has driven investment in top-tier sports rights in major European markets such as Germany, Italy, Spain and most recently France.
“Then, as streaming nears saturation point, general entertainment platforms are adjusting their content investment strategies and have turned to sports as a key part of their subscription growth plans. They are recognising the benefit of acquiring rights to major season-long competitions for both subscriber acquisition and retention. Netflix, Peacock and Paramount all saw the commercial value of acquiring key sporting tournaments and one-off events in 2024 and we expect more of the same in 2025.”
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