The Video Advertising Bureau today published a data report mapping which sports leagues are gaining and losing ground among streaming audiences in the United States, finding that the NFL extended its lead as the most-streamed property while the WNBA posted the steepest growth rate among the fifteen leagues tracked. The report, titled "What are the most popular sports to reach audiences through streaming?," compares streaming behavior recorded in March 2026 against a March 2024 baseline, drawing on VAB's analysis of MRI-Simmons Cord Evolution survey data.

According to VAB, 76% of sports streamers had watched NFL content live in the twelve months preceding the March 2026 fielding period, up from 68% in March 2024. That increase of eight percentage points kept football comfortably ahead of every other league in the dataset, though several properties further down the list grew at a faster relative pace. The WNBA rose from 9% to 14% of sports streamers over the same window, a gain that, expressed as a percentage of its own 2024 base, represents roughly 56% relative growth, the largest proportional jump among the leagues VAB measured.

The underlying survey was fielded January 16 through February 2, 2026, among respondents who had streamed live sports in the prior 30 days. A companion 2024 wave, fielded January 16 through January 28, 2024, supplies the comparison baseline. Both waves draw on MRI-Simmons' Cord Evolution study, a syndicated research product VAB has cited previously for cord-cutting and AVOD audience figures.

Why live sports keeps converting viewers into subscribers

The report opens with three top-line behavioral statistics drawn from VAB's broader analysis of the March 2026 Cord Evolution data. Fifty-eight percent of streamers say they like to stream live sports. Forty-one percent report having streamed sports content within the past month. And 30% say live sports access is a factor that drives them to subscribe to a streaming service in the first place. Those figures, sourced to the same MRI-Simmons fielding window as the league-level breakdowns, frame the rest of the report: streaming sports is not simply a passive viewing habit but an acquisition lever for platforms competing for subscription revenue.

That subscription-driving role helps explain why the report's central focus, the league-by-league breakdown, matters beyond raw audience counts. A league gaining streaming share is not just gaining eyeballs; under VAB's framing, it is gaining a measurable pull on new subscriptions, which is a different commercial signal than simple reach.

The full league ranking, March 2024 versus March 2026

VAB's overall ranking, covering all sports streamers regardless of demographic segment, shows the following changes between the two survey waves. The NFL led at 76%, up from 68%. MLB followed at 41%, up from 31%. The NBA matched MLB at 41%, up from 30%. NCAA Football reached 33%, up from 26%. NCAA Basketball climbed to 23% from 16%. The Olympics, which the report notes can include replays, highlights, and related programming consumed after the Games themselves conclude, rose to 20% from 14%. The NHL also reached 20%, up from 16%.

Further down the ranking, WWE rose to 14% from 10%, and the WNBA reached 14% from 9%. Boxing climbed to 14% from 10%. Golf, Tennis, and NASCAR each landed at 12%, with prior figures of 10%, 8%, and 9% respectively. MMA rose to 9% from 7%. MLS held steady at 8%. NCAA Baseball reached 8% from 6%.

Two properties appeared in the March 2026 wave without a 2024 comparison point. The Premier League registered at 12% of sports streamers, and Formula 1 also reached 12%. According to VAB, neither league was measured in the 2024 survey, so no year-over-year growth figure exists for either. Their inclusion in the current wave signals that VAB's survey instrument expanded its scope between fielding periods, a methodological detail relevant to anyone comparing this report against the organization's earlier sports-streaming work.

How the picture shifts by audience segment

The report's most granular contribution is its breakdown of streaming sports preference across four ethnic and demographic segments: Hispanic, Black, Asian, and LGBTQ streamers. Each segment shows a distinct pattern of league preference and growth, and in several cases the leading sport after the NFL differs sharply from segment to segment.

Hispanic streamers

Among Hispanic sports streamers, the NFL again topped the list, reaching 72% in March 2026, up from 59% in March 2024. The NBA followed at 41%, up from 35%, and MLB reached 38%, up from 35%. NCAA Football rose to 23% from 20%. WWE nearly doubled in relative terms, climbing to 19% from 10%. Boxing reached 18% from 14%. The WNBA rose to 16% from 9%, nearly matching its near-doubling among general streamers. The Olympics held flat at 16%. NHL reached 16% from 12%.

Further down, NCAA Basketball reached 14% from 12%. The European Championships, a property tracked specifically within the Hispanic segment, registered 11% in 2026 against 14% in 2024, a rare instance of measured decline within the dataset. Golf reached 10% from 9%. MMA and MLS each reached 10%, with MLS holding flat and MMA up from 8%. NASCAR rose to 9% from 8%. LIGA MX, the Mexican soccer league tracked specifically for this segment, declined to 8% from 16%, the steepest drop recorded anywhere in the report. According to VAB, NFL, WWE, WNBA, and NBA posted the largest audience growth among Hispanic streamers between the two waves.

Black streamers

Among Black sports streamers, the NFL led at 74%, up from 69%. The NBA followed closely at 70%, up sharply from 45% in March 2024, a 25-percentage-point increase that stands as the single largest absolute jump for any league within any demographic segment in the report. NCAA Football reached 32% from 25%. NCAA Basketball rose to 31% from 18%. MLB reached 30% from 27%. The WNBA nearly doubled, climbing to 27% from 15%. The Olympics rose to 22% from 13%.

Boxing reached 20% from 18%. Tennis rose to 19% from 8%, more than doubling. WWE reached 14%, holding flat against its 2024 figure. NHL rose to 14% from 8%. NASCAR and MMA each reached 11%, up from 8% apiece. Golf reached 11% from 6%. MLS and NCAA Baseball each declined slightly, MLS holding at 7% against a prior 7%, and NCAA Baseball at 7% against a prior 6%. According to VAB, NBA, College Basketball, WNBA, and Tennis posted the largest audience growth among Black streamers.

Asian streamers

Among Asian sports streamers, the NFL reached 74%, up sharply from 51% in March 2024, a 23-percentage-point gain that represents the largest absolute increase for the NFL across any segment in the report. The NBA nearly doubled, rising to 45% from 24%. MLB reached 35% from 23%. NCAA Football climbed to 27% from 16%. The Olympics rose modestly to 23% from 19%. NCAA Basketball reached 22% from 12%, nearly doubling. WWE rose to 19% from 9%, also more than doubling.

NHL reached 18% from 14%. MMA rose sharply to 16% from 7%. Boxing reached 16% from 12%. Tennis rose to 16% from 9%. MLS reached 14% from 9%. The WNBA rose to 12% from 4%, tripling in relative terms even as its absolute share remained the smallest among the major leagues tracked for this segment. NASCAR reached 10% from 5%. Golf reached 8% from 11%, a decline. NCAA Baseball reached 8% from 6%. LIGA MX rose to 7% from 3%. According to VAB, NFL, NBA, MLB, and College Football posted the largest audience growth among Asian streamers.

LGBTQ streamers

Among LGBTQ sports streamers, the NFL led at 72%, up from 63%. MLB followed at 39%, up from 28%. The NBA also reached 39%, up from 30%. NCAA Football climbed to 31% from 25%. NCAA Basketball rose to 24% from 15%. The Olympics reached 21% from 12%. NHL rose to 18% from 14%. WWE reached 16% from 12%. The WNBA climbed to 13% from 8%.

Boxing rose to 11% from 9%. Golf reached 10% from 8%. Tennis rose to 10% from 7%. NASCAR held essentially flat at 9% against a prior 8%. MMA held flat at 8%. NCAA Baseball rose to 8% from 6%. MLS held flat at 8%. According to VAB, MLB, NBA, College Basketball, the Olympics, and the NFL posted the largest audience growth among LGBTQ streamers.

Cross-segment comparison: where diverse audiences diverge most

A separate chart in the report isolates eight specific sports and compares streaming rates across five audience groups simultaneously: non-Hispanic White, Hispanic, non-Hispanic Black, non-Hispanic Asian, and LGBTQ streamers. The comparison reveals where audience composition diverges most sharply from the general streaming population.

The widest gap appears in NBA streaming. Among non-Hispanic White streamers, 34% had streamed NBA content live in the past 30 days. Among non-Hispanic Black streamers, that figure reached 70%, a 36-percentage-point gap. Hispanic streamers reached 41%, non-Hispanic Asian streamers reached 45%, and LGBTQ streamers reached 39%. Every measured segment besides the White baseline streamed NBA content at meaningfully higher rates.

NCAA Basketball follows a similar, though less pronounced, pattern. White streamers reached 24%, while Black streamers reached 31%, Asian streamers reached 22%, and LGBTQ streamers reached 24%. Hispanic streamers were the exception within this sport, recording 14%, below the White baseline. The Olympics showed less variance, with White streamers at 20%, Black streamers at 22%, Asian streamers at 23%, LGBTQ streamers at 21%, and Hispanic streamers at 16%.

WWE showed the inverse pattern from the NBA: White streamers recorded the lowest rate at 12%, while Hispanic streamers reached 19%, Asian streamers reached 19%, Black streamers reached 14%, and LGBTQ streamers reached 16%. Boxing followed a comparable shape, with White streamers at 11% against 18% for Hispanic streamers, 20% for Black streamers, 16% for Asian streamers, and 11% for LGBTQ streamers.

The WNBA produced the second-widest gap in the comparison set. White streamers recorded 11%, while Black streamers reached 27%, a 16-percentage-point difference. Hispanic streamers reached 16%, Asian streamers reached 12%, and LGBTQ streamers reached 13%. Tennis showed a similarly wide spread: White streamers at 11% against Black streamers at 19%, an 8-percentage-point gap, with Asian streamers at 16%, LGBTQ streamers at 10%, and Hispanic streamers lowest at 8%. MMA closed out the comparison set, with White streamers at 8%, Hispanic streamers at 10%, Black streamers at 11%, Asian streamers at 16%, and LGBTQ streamers lowest at 8%.

VAB's own framing of this chart states that diverse audiences overall are more likely to be streaming sports such as basketball, the Olympics, combat sports, and tennis relative to the non-Hispanic White baseline, a pattern that holds across most, though not all, of the eight sports compared.

Context: a fifteenth annual data point in a broader streaming sports trend

This sports-specific update sits within a longer run of VAB research on streaming audience behavior. VAB's broader March 2026 streaming report, published April 6, documented many of the same NFL, NBA, MLB, and WNBA figures that appear in the current sports-focused update, alongside a finding that ad-supported streaming had reached 209.4 million U.S. viewers and that sports as a stated reason for subscribing had risen from 31% to 36% among streamers between the two survey waves. That report also found multicultural audiences accounted for 55% of adult streamers aged 18 to 34, up from 49% a year earlier, a demographic backdrop consistent with the segment-level growth detailed in the current sports breakdown.

Other measurement organizations have tracked overlapping trends using different methodologies. Nielsen's Spring 2026 Tops of Sports report found NBA viewership up 27% for the 2025-26 regular season and NHL viewership up 25%, figures drawn from Nielsen's own audience panel rather than the MRI-Simmons survey instrument VAB uses, illustrating how growth trends recur across measurement systems even when the underlying data sources differ. Separately, Nielsen's March 2026 report on women's sports found that the WNBA's 2025 regular season averaged 1.3 million viewers across ESPN's national broadcasts, a 6% year-over-year increase, and that the league's national consumption reached 220.12 million hours across the full season, a 16% jump. Those figures, measured across linear and streaming platforms combined, provide independent confirmation that the WNBA's growth captured in VAB's streaming-specific data reflects a wider audience trend rather than an artifact of one survey instrument.

The WNBA's streaming growth also coincides with a structural change in how the league is distributed. Amazon's Prime Video began carrying WNBA games in 2026 under an 11-year media rights agreement announced in July 2024 alongside its NBA deal, covering 30 regular-season WNBA games per season globally. Prime Video's June 2026 programming schedule featured the league's first Commissioner's Cup Championship under that new rights structure as its highest-profile live sports placement for the month, suggesting that distribution expansion and audience growth have moved in tandem.

The inclusion of Premier League and Formula 1 as newly tracked properties, both reaching 12% of general sports streamers without a prior comparison point, arrives as international sports rights have become a more visible part of the U.S. streaming landscape. Gracenote's Q2 2026 Data Hub update, tracking content catalogs rather than viewership, found that sports programming now accounts for 5% of all content across the six leading global subscription streaming services, nearly tripling its 1.4% share from when that measurement series began in November 2024.

Why this matters for the marketing community

The segment-level detail in VAB's report carries direct implications for media planners structuring sports-adjacent campaigns. A buyer planning reach against Black streaming audiences, for instance, would find the NBA delivering a 70% streaming penetration rate, more than double the 34% recorded among White streamers, a gap large enough to materially change which league anchors a multicultural media plan. Conversely, a campaign built around general-population reach assumptions, using the NFL's 76% overall figure as a planning baseline, would substantially undercount reach into several specific audience segments where other leagues, such as the NBA among Black streamers or WWE among Hispanic and Asian streamers, deliver disproportionately higher penetration.

The WNBA data point carries particular weight given the league's growth trajectory across multiple measurement systems. A league moving from 9% to 14% of general streamers, while also posting a 25-percentage-point jump from 45% to 70% specifically among Black streamers, presents a different commercial proposition than a league with flat or marginal growth. That combination of overall growth and segment-concentrated growth is the kind of signal media buyers typically weigh when allocating sports-adjacent budget across an upfront cycle, since it indicates both expanding reach and a more defined audience profile.

The newly tracked Premier League and Formula 1 figures also matter for planning purposes, even without year-over-year comparison data. Their appearance in VAB's survey instrument for the first time signals that international sports properties have reached a streaming audience threshold worth measuring domestically, a development relevant to advertisers evaluating where to place budget as U.S. audiences diversify their sports consumption beyond traditionally dominant domestic leagues.

Timeline

  • January 16 to January 28, 2024 - MRI-Simmons fields the Cord Evolution study wave that supplies the report's 2024 baseline figures
  • July 25, 2024 - Amazon Prime Video and the NBA announce an 11-year media rights agreement, with a separate 11-year WNBA agreement also announced
  • January 16 to February 2, 2026 - MRI-Simmons fields the Cord Evolution study wave that supplies the report's March 2026 figures
  • March 5, 2026 - Nielsen publishes its women's sports viewership report, finding the WNBA's 2025 season reached 220.12 million viewing hours
  • March 2026 - VAB's "Rising Tides" streaming report documents sports rising from 31% to 36% as a stated subscription driver among streamers
  • April 6, 2026 - PPC Land covers VAB's broader March 2026 streaming report, including early NFL, NBA, and WNBA streaming figures
  • May 22, 2026 - Gracenote's Q2 2026 Data Hub update finds sports content reaching 5% share across major global SVOD platforms
  • June 1, 2026 - Amazon publishes Prime Video's June 2026 schedule, featuring the WNBA's first Commissioner's Cup Championship under the new rights deal
  • June 30, 2026 - VAB publishes "What are the most popular sports to reach audiences through streaming?," detailing league-by-league and segment-by-segment streaming growth

Summary

Who: The Video Advertising Bureau (VAB), a New York-based trade organization headquartered at 220 East 42nd Street, published the report. MRI-Simmons supplied the underlying survey data through its Cord Evolution study series.

What: A data report comparing streaming viewership across fifteen sports leagues, tracking changes between March 2024 and March 2026, with separate breakdowns for Hispanic, Black, Asian, and LGBTQ streaming audiences alongside the general sports-streaming population.

When: VAB published the report today, June 30, 2026. The underlying survey data was fielded January 16 through February 2, 2026, compared against a baseline wave fielded January 16 through January 28, 2024.

Where: The survey covers the United States sports-streaming population, with segment-specific breakdowns for four demographic groups within that national sample.

Why: The report arrives as media buyers prepare sports-adjacent advertising plans for the coming season, providing league-by-league and segment-by-segment streaming penetration data that can inform which properties deliver the strongest reach into specific audience groups, including the WNBA's pronounced growth among Black streamers and the first-time inclusion of Premier League and Formula 1 viewership figures.