The Future of Sports Audiences – Key Insights from the Nielsen 2025 Report
The sports industry is evolving rapidly. Not just in how sport is played or broadcast, but in who’s watching, how they engage, and what they expect in return. The Nielsen 2025 Sports Trends Report captures the scale of this shift, offering a data-led view into the behaviours, values and demands shaping the future of the sector.
This shows a fundamental redefinition of what it means to be a fan, what sponsorship should achieve, and how brands can build lasting relevance in sport. Here are some of the most important takeaways.
1. Performance Literacy Is Growing
A new generation of fans doesn’t just want results, they want context. Nielsen reports that 39% of fans globally are “very interested” in performance data and behind-the-scenes insights, with that number even higher among Gen Z and Millennial audiences.
This growth in performance literacy has real implications. It’s changing what content gets produced, what platforms it lives on, and how teams and athletes communicate with fans. Behind-the-scenes is no longer bonus content, it’s a primary product. Tactical analysis, training ground footage, injury rehab updates and cognitive testing clips are all part of the modern fan experience.
For media teams, sponsors and rights holders, this opens up a new layer of value. The athlete environment becomes an asset in its own right, rather than just a backdrop.
2. Women’s Sport Is Redefining Trust and Value
Women’s sport continues to grow at pace, but the Nielsen data reveals that it’s just as much about audience sentiment as it is about size.
62% of global fans perceive women’s sport as more inclusive and progressive than men’s, and nearly half (46%) say they trust the sponsors involved in women’s sport more. This is a significant development for brands looking to build emotional equity and long-term loyalty.
But it also presents a challenge: how do sponsors show up in a way that reflects the values that fans associate with women’s sport? Generic campaigns don’t cut it. To be credible in this space, sponsors need to engage with the substance of elite women’s sport, understanding the athletes, the context, the culture and the unique demands of high performance in a rapidly growing, and often still underfunded, ecosystem.
3. Sponsorship Is Shifting From Reach to Relevance
One of the most meaningful shifts in the Nielsen report is how brands are evaluating success. While reach and exposure still matter, 72% of sponsors now cite “depth of engagement” and “value alignment” as their core metrics.
This signals a major change in approach. Logo presence alone is no longer enough. Brands are expected to play an active role in the athlete journey, showing up with clarity, purpose, and relevance.
In practice, this means embedding more deeply into the sporting environment. It means investing in the infrastructure around training, recovery, mental wellbeing and performance support, and then finding meaningful ways to communicate that role to fans. Done right, it creates stories that fans connect with, and that competitors can’t easily replicate.
4. Fans Are Thinking About Their Own Performance
Sport is no longer something audiences just watch for entertainment. According to Nielsen, 55% of sports fans actively seek health and wellness content and inspiration from sports brands and athletes, and 60% say they are more likely to engage with products endorsed by athletes who prioritise recovery and wellbeing.
The line between fan and participant is increasingly blurred. Fans want to know what the pros are doing, not just to admire it, but to apply it to their own day-to-day lives. Whether it’s recovery techniques, mental prep, nutrition strategies or sleep optimisation, the fan of today is also the athlete of tomorrow.
This is an important space for both rights holders and commercial partners to occupy. Performance insight is no longer niche, it’s a gateway to mass engagement, provided it’s delivered with clarity, credibility and utility.
5. High-Performance Storytelling Is Still Underused
Despite all this, much of the elite performance environment remains under-activated from a content perspective. Coaching meetings, warm-up protocols, sports science insights and performance reviews are often shielded from view, sometimes for good reason, but often because there hasn’t yet been a clear strategy to translate them into audience-ready content.
Yet this is precisely where some of the most compelling and authentic stories live.
The opportunity now is for clubs, rights holders and media teams to treat performance environments not just as operational spaces, but as creative ones. It’s here that brands can become part of the conversation, not just by sponsoring the outcome, but by helping tell the story of how performance is built in the first place.
At SSA, we’ve developed a performance rights framework to help rights holders identify untapped assets within their organisations and build new commercial and content partnerships around them. It’s about unlocking the full commercial value of elite-level expertise and using it as a bridge between athlete performance and fan connection. You can find more information on this here.
Looking Ahead
The headline from Nielsen’s 2025 Sports Trends Report is clear: fans are evolving. They want more than just games. They want meaning, context, and connection. They want to understand the people, the preparation and the purpose behind the sport they love.
That creates a clear challenge for commercial teams, creative agencies and sponsors alike. It’s not just about doing more, it’s about doing better and creating something meaningful. Smarter campaigns, grounded in performance. Stories that don’t just entertain, but inform. Partnerships that stand for something beyond visibility.
Performance will always be the heartbeat of elite sport. Now it’s becoming one of the most important spaces for commercial growth, too.
If you're a brand, rights holder or sponsor looking to better understand where the sports industry is heading and how to align your strategy accordingly, get in touch with the team at Sport Science Agency. We help turn audience insight and performance data into smart, actionable content that drives commercial impact.