With the New York Knicks winning their first championship in 53 years and the NBA recording its highest Finals series ratings since 1998, professional basketball was setting new records.
According to the NBA, the five-game series between the Knicks and San Antonio Spurs “has generated 15 billion views on social media, the most for an NBA Finals in history and nearly triple the previous record set in 2025.” Game 5 alone had more than 4 billion views on social media platforms, breaking the record set by Game 4 three days earlier.
This represents an escalating battleground in live sports as professional leagues seek to reach new and younger fans and media consumption shifts online.
This year, television and streaming platforms are attracting the most viewers for live sports. The NBA Finals series averaged 20.6 million viewers per game. disney’s ABC and ESPN networks.
Still, TikTok and Google YouTube claims it gives away a disproportionate amount of free viewing time to Gen Z and Alpha. As a result, sports leagues and live rights holders are considering whether to go all-in on social as a funnel for future audience acquisition or beef up their walled gardens of subscription programming to offset rising broadcast prices.
New York Knicks fans gather outside Madison Square Garden before Game 4 of the NBA Finals between the New York Knicks and San Antonio Spurs on June 10, 2026 in New York City.
Adam Gray | Getty Images
“There’s always the question of what the league is doing and what the rights holders want to do,” said Jonathan Miller, a former Fox and NBA executive who is now chief executive of Integrated Media, which specializes in digital media investments.
“Reaching and developing our youth sports base is a major priority and focus of the league itself,” Miller said. “In today’s fragmented landscape, having a young base is no longer a luxury, but a necessity to ensure a healthy future.”
New fans, new ways to watch
For years, YouTube has commanded the lion’s share of streaming viewers, according to Nielsen’s monthly report, known as “The Gauge.”
Rather than watching the entire game live, consumers increasingly watch sports clips, highlights, athlete-made videos, and creator content on social platforms.
According to S&P Global’s 2025 State of U.S. Sports Viewing report, 68% of sports viewers report watching live games on TV or streaming. 38% reported watching highlights, interviews, and other clips on social media, YouTube, and other platforms. Additionally, 12% said they interact with professional players, teams, and leagues’ social media accounts and fan forums.
“What we’re seeing today is an evolution in consumption,” said Adam Kelly, president of global sports marketing agency IMG.
of TKO GroupThe owned company not only packages and sells media rights and brand rights, but also provides consulting on some of the world’s largest television deals.
Live games broadcast exclusively on streaming consistently draw significantly younger viewers than those broadcast on linear television, according to Nielsen, which recently began analyzing the breakdown of weekly viewership for sports.
If you’re a broadcaster and you’re actively using social and digital platforms to deliver tons of highlights and content, you’re feeding the beast.
William Mao
Senior Vice President, Media Rights Consulting, Octagon
Apptopia said the NBA Finals drove new viewers to streaming platforms such as Disney’s ESPN. Even streaming-only versions of pay-TV bundles Prefectural security Similar results were seen on YouTube.
However, data from Apptopia shows that new NBA postseason viewers tend to be older.
ESPN Streaming saw a 38% increase in new users ages 46 and older, but only an 8% increase in the youngest demographic, ages 17 to 25. For Fubo and YouTube, growth was also heavily skewed toward viewers 46 and older.
“Our hypothesis regarding younger fans is that they play a very important role in sports consumption, and continue to do so, but their consumption behavior will be a little different,” Kelly said. “We often talk about audience fragmentation, but the reality is that the number of consumers continues to grow.”
sports highlights
Industry executives told CNBC that as sports increasingly migrate to social platforms, content is serving as a conduit to live games rather than a pure replacement.
“This is just a continued evolution of content accessibility. There are more platforms in the market that accommodate short-form content,” said William Mao, senior vice president of media rights consulting at Octagon, a global sports and entertainment agency.
Mao said the rise of social content, especially live sports, recognizes that companies “need to target and engage with younger demographics and future consumers.”
Mao said the desire for clips has created something of a land grab between the league and media rights holders.
Both the broadcaster and the league have their own social media. If multiple accounts want to use the same footage, your audience may be diluted.
As a result, media negotiations could go as far as determining how long highlights and clips can be used exclusively on one platform versus another, Mao said.
The hope is that a healthy dose of highlights on social feeds will increase interest in live matches among younger fans.
Alicia Wingeo Picture Alliance | Getty Images
TikTok’s global head of sports, Rollo Goldstaub, said 42% of users who watch sports content on the short-form video platform will watch a live game on TV or streaming.
Goldstaub said his job includes ensuring the platform includes content from across the sports ecosystem, including leagues, athletes, media broadcasts and content creators. He said content provided directly by broadcasters and leagues, such as game highlights, typically has higher engagement.
IMG’s Kelly said younger viewers “have been asked to fit into existing frameworks when it comes to sports consumption.”
“Distribution relies very little on traditional delivery methods because that has worked well for a long time,” he says. “Young fans of non-linear (TV) spend most of their time on these platforms. Their preference is to consume content where they already consume other material.”
While there are ways to monetize highlights and content on social media, such as ad revenue sharing on platforms like YouTube and other sponsorship opportunities, the primary source of value for these games comes from the broadcast of live matches on television and streaming.
As sports viewing fees continue to rise, there is an increasing need to recoup that investment.
The NBA is in the early stages of an 11-year, $77 billion deal. The NFL is in the midst of signing an 11-year contract worth $111 billion, the most in history, and is focusing on advertising to boost revenue.
“There’s an argument that if you’re a broadcaster and you’re actively using social and digital platforms to distribute a ton of highlights and content, it’s going to accelerate, right?” Mao said. “You’re like feeding the beast.”
Approaching young fans
Key players are beginning to adapt to accommodate younger fans.
FIFA, the World Cup’s governing body, is allowing global broadcasters to post more content to TikTok, including footage from and around matches.
The tournament is currently being held in the United States, Canada, and Mexico, and the first 10 minutes of each match will be broadcast on TikTok. Once the stream ends, you will be provided with a direct link to stream the game, available on Fox and in the US. comcast’s Telemundo.
No. 17 Malik Tillman of the United States is challenged by No. 10 Miguel Almiron of Paraguay during the 2026 FIFA World Cup Group D match between the United States and Paraguay at Los Angeles Stadium in Los Angeles, California on June 12, 2026.
Dean Moutapoulos | Getty Images Sports | Getty Images
In February, the NBA focused on creator content during All-Star Week, inviting more than 200 digital natives to the event.
right holder paramount skydance and disney has developed a children’s simulcast to capture its youngest fans, who may be watching with their parents.
Paramount’s CBS is broadcasting alternate live sports on its children’s TV network Nickelodeon, from Christmas Day games to the 2023 Super Bowl, featuring slime graphics and characters like SpongeBob running around the field.
Disney also uses intellectual property for ESPN’s NFL games, including overlays with characters from movies like “Monsters, Inc.” And “Toy Story.”
And leagues across sports are partnering with major gaming fams. roblox Game developers bring team jerseys and content to video game platforms popular with Gen Z and Gen Alpha.
Roblox collaborated with Paramount on Nickelodeon’s Super Bowl broadcast. The event had 70 million visitors in 30 days, making it the largest event in Roblox history. “It was huge,” said Gamefam CEO Ricardo Briceno.
Briseno said building fandom and converting users from Roblox and off-platform is “very important.” That might mean watching a game or buying a jersey or other merchandise.
“That’s the funnel: Build awareness and love for the brand and put money into it,” Briseno said.
From television to technology
There’s a flip side to fueling your funnel.
Tech companies and streamers that serve as a bridge to younger audiences are establishing themselves as live gaming bidders.
Google YouTube, Amazon’s prime video, apple and Netflix We’re getting more matches and starting to get big viewership.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell attends the 2025 Netflix advertising presentation.
Provided by Netflix
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has been vocal about meeting young fans where they use streaming services. NBA’s latest media deal introduces Prime Video instead Warner Brothers Discovery TNT Sports. YouTube aired its first-ever NFL game in September.
The strategy seems to be working. The NBA recorded some of its highest-rated games this season, and the NFL’s “Thursday Night Football” on Prime Video continues to draw big viewers, broadcasting its most-watched season in its 20-year history.
Still, IMG’s Kelly, TikTok’s Goldstaub and others said they don’t see the move to social media as a threat to traditional media partners.
“We can be a partner in increasing the value of fans, who are often younger and more likely to be female, which broadcasters have a hard time reaching,” Goldstaub said.
“I think we’re really happy to be operating in this space right now where it’s almost like part of the game,” he said. “We can promote the entire match live, we can promote the broadcaster, but we can also offer something really surprising and interesting to our users.”
