American sports fans are not one simple audience. Ipsos’ Sports in America report shows that US fandom is shaped by age, media habits, income, participation, and cultural attitudes, creating important lessons for brands, sponsors, and rights holders. Read the Ipsos Sports in America report, here.
American Sports Fans Report – Key Takeaways
- (American) Football remains the strongest platform – 44% of Americans describe themselves as NFL fans, ahead of baseball at 31% and college football at 29%. For sponsors, the NFL still offers scale, but the right activation should reflect audience behaviour, not just audience size.
- Younger fans are spreading their attention – Among 18 to 34 year-olds, NFL fandom falls to 35%, while NBA and baseball sit at 23% and soccer reaches 16%. This matters for brands looking at future fan growth, not just today’s biggest properties.
- Streaming is changing sports media behaviour – Live TV remains dominant, but younger Americans are far more likely to stream sport than older fans. For example, 40% of 18 to 34-year-olds streamed NBA games, compared with just 4% of those aged 55+.
- Participation is shaped by access – 58% of Americans earning over $100k played sport in 2022, compared with 31% earning under $50k. This shows why participation-led sponsorship should consider cost, access and community relevance.
- Sport is also a cultural flashpoint – 80% of Black Americans say NIL rights have a positive impact on college athletics, compared with 52% of White Americans. The report also shows political divides around women’s sport coverage and gender pay equity.
So what does this mean for sponsorship?
The US sports market offers enormous scale, but it needs to be bought with precision. NFL, NBA, soccer and streaming audiences cannot be treated the same. Wider research supports this: Nielsen reports that 40.7% of global sports fans stream live sport, while additional insights find fans created early are more passionate, active and commercially valuable.
For sponsors, the opportunity is not just reach. It is using audience data to choose the right property, platform and activation.
Need help engaging American sports fans?
If you’re looking for support in using sponsorship in the US, or to reach American audiences, Strive can help. Contact us for advice on how to use sponsorship to grow brand awareness if you’re a new market entrant, maintain mental availability, inject emotion into your brand, change perception, and create distinctiveness from your competitors.
If you’re to increase brand awareness and make your performance marketing spend more efficient, contact us for help. Strive works with clients that have included Specsavers, BT, Sky, Guinness and more.
Frequently asked questions
What is the most popular sport in America?
According to Ipsos’ Sports in America report, the NFL is the most popular sport among sports fans, with 44% describing themselves as NFL fans. For brands, this makes American football one of the strongest sponsorship platforms in the US, although audience age, media habits and fan behaviour still need to shape any sponsorship strategy.
How do Americans watch sports?
Most Americans still watch live sport on TV, but younger fans are more likely than older fans to use streaming platforms. This means brands and rights holders shouldn’t build sponsorship activation around broadcast visibility alone if they want to reach the whole audience. Agencies like Strive Sponsorship advise brands on how to best navigate the American sport sponsorship landscape.
Why do brands sponsor American sports?
Brands sponsor American sports to build for a variety of reasons, including brand awareness, credibility, cultural relevance and maintaining mental availability with fans. Effective sponsorship should be based on audience insight, clear objectives and a strong activation plan that adds value to the fan experience. Strive Sponsorship is a great example of an agency that helps brands what to sponsor, how to partner, and measure sponsorship return on investment.