The hottest sport on TV isn’t football, basketball or even pickleball. It’s the game of trying to find how to watch your favorite team.
As more streaming services focus on offering sports, fans have a seeming infinite number of games they can watch. The trouble now comes in finding the exact one a viewer wants to see.
Nielsen‘s Gracenote unit will introduce a new service that can be used across streaming and linear video services that helps consumers find the live sports they want to watch in the moment they wish to watch them. The company will showcase its live-sports discovery technology at CES between January 7 and January 9.
For every Max, ESPN+ and Peacock, there is a unique system of highlighting live programming and getting the user there quickly. The Gracenote product offers a single application program interface, or API, that covers more than 150 different league and competitions. Fans can find data, live sports schedules and search capabilities, and Gracenote expects to offer future product add-ons like a display of game scores; team standings; and nods to athlete appearances in entertainment content.
“Sports programming has the unique ability to attract large and passionate audiences making it invaluable to video providers seeking to drive engagement and time spent with their services,” said Bill Michels, chief product officer at Gracenote, in a statement. “With Gracenote’s new solution, customers can now deliver innovative discovery experiences leveraging sports content and win the competition for viewers and their attention.”
There is much cause for confusion when it comes to live sports. According to Gracenote, 93% of Major League Baseball games in the 2024 season were spread across regional sports networks, local channels, streaming services and new broadband outlets backed by individual sports leagues. Little wonder that some fans find the search to see their favorite team play overwhelming.
Access to sports has fragmented with the rise of streaming and dispersion of sports rights. For example, of the 2,430 Major League Baseball games played during the 2024 regular season, only 150 were carried nationally on traditional broadcast or streaming channels. With 93% of games spread across regional sports networks, local channels, streaming services and league-developed direct-to-consumer offerings, many professional baseball fans faced difficulty watching their favorite teams play.
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