We found out a while back that the NFL will not be renewing its DirecTV Sunday Ticket deal, after a years-long run. The top-viewed sports league has decided to move on and no longer require its viewers to get a satellite dish installed just to watch their favorite team in action. Instead, the NFL is moving on to something that it hopes will attract an even broader viewership.
For a while, it seemed that Apple TV+ was the lead streaming candidate, but a new survey indicates that is no longer the case. According to The Streamable, Apple TV+ actually trails its major competitors in terms of viewer choice.
In fact, the survey found the following:
- Nearly two-thirds of NFL fans said they are most likely to subscribe to Sunday Ticket if it lands on one of two platforms: YouTube (35 percent of fans) or Amazon Prime Video (29 percent of fans)
- Despite being discussed as a frontrunner to win the bid, Apple TV+ is the last place fans want Sunday Ticket to be. It placed last for the service fans would be most and least likely to subscribe to Sunday Ticket on
- More than twice as many fans prefer YouTube over Apple TV+ (122 percent more fans) and 80 percent more prefer Amazon Prime Video
- Amazon Prime Video had the fewest fans say they would be least likely to subscribe to Sunday Ticket on it (20 percent of fans), 32 percent fewer than Apple TV+
- ESPN+ lagged behind YouTube and Amazon Prime Video as the most preferred service, but still beat out Apple TV+ in both the service fans would be most likely (20 percent of fans) and least likely (25 percent of fans) to subscribe to Sunday Ticket on
While YouTube leads Amazon Prime slightly in viewer choice, Amazon landed Thursday night games exclusively, which may give the service the edge in negotiations. Not mentioned in the study were Peacock TV, which currently streams Sunday night games, and Paramount+, which streams CBS games. The latter gives viewers the games currently being carried in their individual market.
No matter how this battle turns out, it seems that viewers will win, thanks to a cheaper pricing plan and much wider availability of Sunday Ticket. And that’s great news for fans of out-of-market teams, and there are plenty of us, my daughter and I can assure you of that.