We wanted to know what listeners actually think. So we ran a study with 1,326 weekly radio listeners ages 18-45 across the U.S., playing the same radio scripts in two versions: one voiced by a human voice actor, one AI-generated. Half of the sample heard the human version, and half heard the AI version. Neither knew which they were getting.

Here’s what we found.

Listeners Can’t Tell the Difference Until You Tell Them

We played two clips: a station imaging spot with a gas card giveaway promotion, and a short call-to-action reminding listeners to call their mothers on Mother’s Day. Both were designed to test different use cases for AI voice in radio production. The human voiceover was performed by a professional voice actor.

Before you read another word, listen for yourself. Can you tell which is which?

Clip 1 

Clip 2

The first clip in each pair is the human voice, performed by professional voiceover talent Neil Wilson. The second is AI-generated. Our study listeners heard one or the other without knowing which, and most couldn’t tell the difference.

None of those differences are statistically significant. People who heard the human voice were only slightly more likely to correctly identify it as human. People who heard the AI voice were slightly more likely to think it was AI. But the margins are small enough that neither group was really “reading” the voice correctly. The AI voice passed the blind test.

Across both clips, human and AI voices scored comparably on professionalism, authenticity, credibility, energy, and likability. Not a single attribute difference reached statistical significance, with one exception we’ll get to in a moment.

Overall appeal was virtually identical: 60% for the human voice, 61% for the AI voice on Clip 1.

Where Human Voice Measurably Won

In the Clip 1 descriptor battery, where listeners could select any words they felt applied, one result came back statistically significant…

Funny. Human voice: 33%. AI voice: 26%. A 7-point gap.

It’s the only stat-sig finding in either clip’s performance battery, and it’s notable. The human voice was perceived as meaningfully funnier. For a script built around a joke (Optimus Prius, anyone?), that landing matters. Comedy timing, inflection, and the organic quality of a human reading a punchline are things AI hasn’t fully closed the gap on yet, at least not in the ears of radio listeners.

If humor is a meaningful part of your station’s voice, this is worth paying attention to.

Everything Changed When We Told Them

After listeners rated the clips, we revealed which voice they had actually heard. Then we asked: does knowing that change how you feel about it?

When human voice listeners found out they’d been listening to a real person, 48% felt more favorably about what they’d heard. Only 4% felt worse.

When AI voice listeners found out they’d been listening to an AI, 20% felt worse about it. Only 25% felt better, and a majority felt nothing either way.

That’s a 23-point gap in positive lift and a 16-point gap in negative reaction. Both statistically significant at 95% confidence.

The performance was the same. The perception shifted dramatically the moment people knew the source.

How Radio Listeners Actually Feel About AI Voices

We also asked the full sample a broader question: How do you feel about AI-generated voices in advertising and media, generally?

44% are positive. 26% are negative. 30% are neutral. That’s a more favorable split than you might expect given the volume of industry hand-wringing, but the negative segment is real and shouldn’t be dismissed.

And when we asked specifically about stations: Would knowing a station uses AI voices change how you feel about it?

A third of listeners would feel worse about a station they found out was using AI voices. Less than a quarter would feel better. That’s an asymmetric risk.

Hearing Directly from Listeners

We also gave radio listeners a chance to weigh in after we revealed whether they had heard an human or AI voiceover.

On the human voice side, the reactions after the reveal were about connection and trust. Listeners felt validated: they liked it before, and knowing a real person was behind it made them like it more:

“I wasn’t sure if it was AI at first but now knowing it’s voiced by a live person I’m all for it!”

“It shows that some companies are still willing to do things professionally without using AI.”

“If they stay human I will keep listening!”

On the AI voice side, the negative reactions clustered around three themes: deception, jobs, and the essential nature of radio:

“Radio is about personality and connection. AI voices feel fake and less trustworthy. It would make the station feel cheap and impersonal.”

“It feels like the station is lying to listeners and I do not want to listen anymore.”

“All radio has are their voices and personalities and to lie and use fake ones is sacrilege to their listening audience.”

But not everyone in the AI cell reacted negatively. A group was genuinely impressed:

“Knowing it was AI-generated impresses me because the voice quality sounded completely natural.”

“It shows the station is innovative and cutting edge, which I totally dig.”

And some drew a line based on use case:

“Using AI for quick little blurbs or commercials is fine. But when you’re using it as a non-air personality, I believe that’s gone too far and takes away the human element of radio and entertainment.”

That nuance matters. It suggests listeners aren’t categorically opposed to AI in radio production. They’re opposed to feeling deceived, and they draw a distinction between production tools and on-air personality.

What This Means for Radio

AI voice is technically competitive. In a blind listen, it performs as well as a human voice actor on almost every measurable dimension. Stations and advertisers worried that AI voices will sound cheap or robotic may be underestimating what today’s technology can do.

Disclosure is the real variable. The performance gap is negligible. The perception gap after disclosure is substantial. If you’re using AI voice in production and listeners find out, whether through your own disclosure or through the wrong kind of attention, you’re carrying asymmetric risk. More people will feel worse than will feel better.

Humor is where human voice still has a measurable edge. For imaging built around a comedic premise, the data says keep the human in the booth.

The most negative reactions are about trust and transparency, not sound quality. The verbatims aren’t saying “it sounded fake.” They’re saying “it felt like lying.” That’s a different problem, and it points toward how stations approach disclosure, not just whether to use AI.

Credibility is worth pricing in. Yes, hiring a human voice actor costs money. But the post-reveal data shows that credibility with your audience has real value too, and it can erode fast once listeners feel deceived. Before cutting the budget on voiceover, the question worth asking is: at what point does the cost savings stop being worth the credibility risk?

This study was conducted by Crowd React Media, a division of Harker Bos Group, in May and June 2026 with 1,326 weekly radio listeners ages 18-45 across the U.S. Statistical significance tested using a two-proportion z-test, two-tailed, at 95% confidence interval (p<0.05). Human voiceover performed by Neil Wilson.

The post Can Listeners Tell the Difference Between AI and Human Voiceover? We Tested It. appeared first on Crowd React Media.

After three years of tracking how American adults spend their attention across 10 media types, a clear pattern has emerged: cumes held, but habits softened. Conversion dropped across nearly every platform in 2026. And the platforms built on algorithmic dependency are showing it first.

The report covers trend data across cable, streaming TV, radio, music streaming, podcasts, news, social media, YouTube, video games, and AI, with separate takeaways for media operators and advertisers. There’s also a counterintuitive finding about the 18-34 demo that challenges a lot of conventional industry thinking.

Three years in, the era of compounding engagement appears to be closing. Read the full report here.

The post State of Media 2026 Is Here appeared first on Crowd React Media.

Over the years I have had many different bosses, and what I always found was important is to understand what they want. Each person I worked for had a different set of priorities that they felt were important. Understanding what that person needed, made it easier to do my job.

In terms of producing content it is critical that we understand what the listener/viewer is looking for. The options for content have resulted in a saturation for what is available. With technology, the consumer is clearly in charge of whether or not your organization is successful. For radio there is a lot of conversation about the challenges that the industry is facing. Much of that centers around the fact that the audience has never had as many choices.

While technology has changed, some of the fundamentals have not. One of the best lessons I was taught early on was the importance of “playing to the broadest set of the audience.” Even though most of my career has been in spoken word radio, I became aware of this when I was a music DJ back in the 80s. That is where I learned about the importance of “playing the hits.”

The Program Director I was working for put together a weekly list of the most popular songs specifically targeted to our audience. The most popular songs got played the most. There were times I wanted to play a different selection, but that was not allowed as it was about what the audience wants instead of what I would like to present.

Through all the changes over the years, this is still one of the most valuable lessons I learned early on. I was fascinated by the Billboard Hot 100 and the hottest songs of the week. It was always about what song was number one. At times a song could be number one for long periods of time. At other times, it might be for only a week. This was all about what the audience was looking for.

The premise of music radio was give the listener what they are looking for as soon as they decide to listen. Regardless of the format, that fundamental remains in place today. In spoken word formats such as news or sports, that is just as important.
The consumer of content behaves differently in 2026 than the past. With so many ways to get content, and with all the various platforms there is no margin for error. Every brand has an audience that they want to serve. This all comes down to understanding who you are working for. This is all about super serving the primary listener/viewer of your content and understanding what they want and how they want it.

Five Fundamentals for Serving Your Audience in Spoken Word Radio

• Play to the broadest set of the audience — Understand what topics and conversation points are most relevant to the biggest piece of the pie.
• Play the Hits! — Sounds simple, however in spoken word it is important to stay focused on what people are looking for as soon as they decide to listen/watch.
• Be smart with detours — There is time to go off the main topic periodically, however there needs to be a strategy. Some days the content is so urgent that the process is easy. There are other days where there is room to be creative.
• Never Assume — Simple, but impactful — Tell the audience what you are talking about and make sure they understand the content you are presenting. In the days of Top 40 Radio we always told the listener who the artist was and the name of the song.
• Respect Short Attention Spans — Failure to adjust to the change in how the listener/viewer reviews content. The talent has less than 10 seconds to connect with the audience.

The more you understand what your audience wants, the better the opportunity to be successful and build a relationship with the brand you are presenting.

The post Who Do You Work For? appeared first on Crowd React Media.

What Radio Listeners Actually Use (The Short Answer)

YouTube dominates radio listener social media habits in 2026, with 83% of U.S. radio listeners 18+ using it weekly. This beats Instagram (77%), Facebook (73%), and TikTok (72%). Spanish-language radio listeners show distinct platform preferences, with 59% using WhatsApp weekly versus 39% of English-language listeners. Radio stations investing heavily in TikTok while ignoring YouTube are chasing the wrong platform. These findings come from surveying 2,798 radio listeners across the U.S. in March-April 2026.

Social media shifts fast. What worked for your audience last year might not work now, which is why we regularly check in on where radio listeners actually spend their time online.

In the latest Media Minute from Crowd React Media, we talked to 2,800 radio listeners 18+ in the U.S. between March and April 2026. And the data reveals something radio programmers need to see: while the industry obsesses over TikTok strategy, 83% of radio listeners are using YouTube every single week. YouTube beats all the platforms radio chases, and most stations are barely paying attention.

Here’s the full picture of weekly social media use among radio listeners:

• YouTube: 83%
• Instagram: 77%
• Facebook: 73%
• TikTok: 72%
• WhatsApp: 50%
• Snapchat: 45%
• X/Twitter: 42%
• LinkedIn: 22%

Only 1% of radio listeners said they use none of these platforms weekly. Your audience is online, they’re active, and they’re using multiple platforms. So when you’re deciding where to invest your time and content, go where they already are.

Stop Spreading Yourself Thin

Most radio stations try to maintain a presence everywhere. Facebook page, Instagram account, TikTok experiments, X feed, LinkedIn company page. The problem is that equal effort across unequal platforms is a losing strategy, and the data makes that pretty clear.

If 83% of your audience is on YouTube weekly and only 22% is on LinkedIn, your content calendar needs to reflect that gap. YouTube offers longer content windows, better discoverability, and audience behavior that aligns with how people consume radio content — lean-back, audio-forward, exploratory. Yet most stations treat it as an afterthought while agonizing over 15-second TikTok vertical video strategies that may or may not land.

The WhatsApp Opportunity for Spanish-Language Radio

When we break the data down by language, one platform really stands out: WhatsApp.

Click on “English-Language Radio” and “Spanish-Language Radio” tabs on graph to toggle between.

Among Spanish-language radio listeners, 59% use WhatsApp weekly compared to just 39% of English-language listeners. That 20-point gap represents a real opportunity for bilingual and Spanish-language stations. For this audience, WhatsApp is nearly as ubiquitous as Facebook (73%). If you’re serving Spanish-language markets and treating WhatsApp as a secondary platform, you’re leaving reach on the table.

If You Do Invest in TikTok, Go Local

TikTok Nearby is the feature most radio stations don’t know exists, but it’s worth understanding if you’re committing resources to the platform. It surfaces local content based on user location, which means you can reach people in your broadcast area instead of competing with creators worldwide. If you’re investing time in TikTok — and 72% of your audience is there weekly, so it’s worth considering — use the one feature that plays to radio’s geographic advantage.

National Trends, Local Answers

This data shows where radio listeners are nationally, but your audience is hyperlocal. Want to know exactly which platforms your listeners use in your market? We build custom research studies that give you market-specific answers instead of industry averages. Learn more about strategic studies here.

This research was conducted by Crowd React Media, a division of Harker Bos Group in March and April 2026 with 2,798 radio listeners age 18+ across the US, including both English-language and Spanish-language radio audiences.

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My journey continued to Salt Lake City UT, Portland OR, and eventually Dallas TX in 2001. At each stop, the focus was on the one or two stations that were programming sports content. Radio at this time was still using the paper diary to track audience engagement. The rollout of the Portable People Meter did not take place until 2007, and it took until 2010 to launch in the forty-eight markets that Nielsen has today. The biggest challenge of the diary was the amount of time one had to wait for the data.

After Dallas, my next stop was in Bristol, CT at ESPN Radio. The biggest observation from my time there was the constant change we started to see as we moved into the PPM era. The decision was eventually made by ESPN to focus more on Audio than Radio. This was an acknowledgement that change was going to be constant and would impact all content providers. By the early 2010s, the cell phone was becoming mainstream and was engaged in driving audience engagement.

The days of just thinking about the other sports radio station in your community as the competition was basically over. Technology has changed how content is presented and how the programming people want is distributed. In addition, demographic behavior has changed in terms of what certain parts of the audience want.

The big question in 2026….no matter what kind of content you are producing, the competition features a saturation of options and a fragmentation of consumers. Sports Radio is still relevant, however the content provider needs to understand that the listener/viewer is in charge and if the programming does not meet their needs they will go elsewhere and may not come back. What is the first thing you see when a talented personality is let go? He or She may start a podcast, which is another piece of competition to deal with in every local market. You must remember, there are numerous places that people can turn to for the content they want.

It is also important to know in the current environment formats are not just competing against each other. They have to deal with other formats based on the events of the day. Places such as YouTube and Spotify are resulting in more options for people to find new sources of the content they want.

The landscape for content is only going to get more competitive. Every year there will be more places to hear the same subjects discussed by numerous hosts. It is critical that in planning that everyone understand the challenges and opportunities as our competition is everywhere.

What can you do today at your station? Here are some important considerations

• Position your content as a multi-platform brand.
• Put together a list of all your competitors and discuss frequently with your team.
• Identify talent that can generate audience regardless of platform.
• Consistently monitor what you believe to be your top five competitors.
• Schedule regular coaching/feedback sessions with an emphasis of having everyone understand that content is an on-demand priority to the consumer regardless of platform.
• Deliver content that connects with the audience in 5 seconds.
• Develop audience tracking beyond traditional radio ratings.

The post What are we competing with? appeared first on Crowd React Media.

Marketing Millennials recently nailed this challenge in their newsletter with an insight that every broadcast sales professional should understand:

Credit: Marketing Millenials newsletter

Why This Matters for Radio & TV Sales

This isn’t just a TV problem; it’s a radio reality too. Here’s what’s happening:

A listener hears your client’s radio spot during their morning commute on Tuesday. They think, “I should check that out.” On Friday, they Google the business. The following week, they convert. Google gets the credit. Your radio campaign? Invisible in the attribution model.

The truth? Linear media (both radio and TV) often does the heavy lifting of awareness and consideration. Digital gets the assist at the bottom of the funnel and takes home the MVP trophy.

The Uphill Climb (And How to Make It Easier)

Let’s be honest about what we’re up against: Digital advertising has built-in attribution that makes CMOs and marketing directors feel safe. They can see clicks, track conversions, and show their boss a tidy spreadsheet. That’s powerful.

But here’s the opportunity: Understanding this dynamic makes you a better partner to your clients.

Turning Knowledge Into Sales Success

1. Set Expectations Upfront Don’t let clients be surprised when they see a spike in branded search or direct traffic after your campaign launches. Tell them in the proposal: “You’ll likely see increased website traffic, Google searches for your brand, and social media engagement. That’s us working.”
2. Use the Right Metrics Work with your clients to establish KPIs that capture radio and TV’s real impact:

• Branded search volume
• Website traffic patterns (especially after ad flights)
• Store visits during campaign periods
• Phone call tracking with unique numbers
• Promo code redemptions

3. Prove Your Impact with Brand Lift Studies This is where research becomes your competitive advantage. Brand Lift Studies give you the attribution story that digital can’t tell.

Pre/Post Studies measure your audience before and after campaign exposure, tracking shifts in:

• Brand awareness and recall
• Message association
• Purchase intent
• Brand perception

Forced Exposure Studies isolate your campaign’s impact by exposing a test group to your creative and comparing their responses to a control group. This proves causation, not just correlation.

These studies answer the exact question that Marketing Millennials raised: “Did that conversion happen BECAUSE of your ad, or was it going to happen anyway?” When you can show a client that brand awareness jumped 23% or purchase intent increased 31% directly because of their radio or TV campaign, you’re no longer guessing—you’re proving.

4. Educate on the Customer Journey Help clients understand that the path to purchase isn’t linear. Share frameworks about how broadcast media excels at building awareness and consideration (your traditional strong point) while also driving action. You’re not competing with digital; you’re making digital perform better.

The Bottom Line

Yes, you’re fighting an uphill battle against instant attribution. But you’re armed with something digital often lacks: the ability to reach people in high-attention moments, build genuine brand awareness, and create emotional connections that stick.

At Crowd React Media, we help radio and TV stations prove their impact through research that captures the full picture, not just the last click. Because the best partnerships are built on understanding the whole truth, not just the easiest-to-measure truth.

Your campaigns are working. Let’s make sure you, and your clients, get the credit you deserve.

The post The Attribution Advantage: How Radio & TV Sales Teams Can Win the Credit Game appeared first on Crowd React Media.

The consumer is now in charge of what they want and how they want their content produced and delivered. Here is where things are as 2026 begins:

• Content Distribution – People have more content platforms available than ever before. The old school platforms of television, radio and newspapers are fighting for their survival. Most of my broadcast career has been spent on the radio. No matter what platform, the choices on how to receive and produce content are in an ongoing state of change.
• Content Saturation – This is real, there are so many sources to find content that matters to an individual person. We live in a world of on-demand programming. If there is something you are looking for it is easily accessible wherever you are and whenever you want to consume it.
• Competition – In the past it was simple to know what you are up against. Today, it is much more complicated. There are so many places consumers can get the content they are looking for.

With all that in mind, it is critical to have a strategy for whatever platform you are working on. How many times have you heard the phrase “we have always done it this way”?

Over the years, I have seen resistance from many people to change. During my journey, I was fortunate to work in positions where change was embraced and even mandated. Every year, there are more options for consumers to find what they are looking for, much of this driven by technology and new platforms. There was once a world with no internet, no cellphones, no Facebook, no YouTube, and no social media.

This is where developing a smart, strategic action plan comes into play. To move forward in an ever-changing environment, it is important to take a step back and ask yourself, “What am I going to stop doing?” If you are going to adjust your content strategy, there are certain aspects from the past you need to consider stopping so you can update your priorities. There is only so much time in a day, and if you are going to add innovative ideas, it is imperative to stop certain practices so you can move things in a new direction.

The beginning of the year is a good time to build a plan for reviewing strategies and evaluating what you should stop doing, so you have time to establish new approaches that support your priorities and improve performance.

Action Steps

• Put together a group of folks that represent the core values of your organization. Outline the goal of reviewing what works and what does not work.
• Identify all the competitors that you need to have a strategy for.
• Discuss practices/strategies that are no longer effective in driving success.
• Set a deadline for determining whether the items everyone agrees upon are no longer relevant.
• Once the group agrees, the next step is to determine several new priorities that everyone feels they can have an influence over.
• Set up planning sessions to explore the best strategies in moving forward.
• Determine new priorities for the year ahead.

The media world is evolving at an accelerated pace. With more platforms for content, understanding what is expected, and how content is delivered, is increasingly important. This is why a complete review of the process makes sense. It allows us to better understand what consumers want in terms of the programming they seek and which platforms they prefer for receiving content. Setting a timeline is also an important part of the process to ensure time is not wasted.

Taking time early in the year to step back and review processes is a smart use of time.

The post 2026 – What will you STOP doing? appeared first on Crowd React Media.

Market Millennials recently highlighted this shift in their 2026 outlook, pointing to hyper local community building as a major opportunity. Instead of broad national campaigns fighting for the same attention, brands are being encouraged to activate at the neighborhood, city, and community level. Specific geography. Specific culture. Specific needs.

If that sounds obvious to anyone in radio, it should.

Local connection has always been radio’s core strength. Long before marketers started talking about “niching down,” radio was already reaching people by market, by format, by language, and by culture. A morning show in Atlanta does not sound like one in Phoenix. A Spanish language station in Los Angeles serves a different community than one in Miami. That is not a limitation. That is the value.

This matters even more for Black and Hispanic consumers, who are often flattened into a single “general market” audience in national advertising. Local radio has consistently done what many large campaigns do not. It reflects lived experience, community priorities, music, humor, and language that feel familiar and trusted. That trust is hard to replicate at scale.

Market Millennials also predict that microinfluencers will outperform mega influencers in 2026. Creators with smaller audiences are seeing stronger engagement, deeper trust, and better conversion. Once an influencer becomes too big, the content becomes polished, distant, and less relatable.

Again, this should sound familiar.

Radio hosts and DJs are original microinfluencers. They are embedded in their markets, show up at local events, talk to listeners every day, and build relationships over years, not posts. Their audiences may not be counted in millions, but the connection is real, consistent, and credible. That is exactly what brands are now chasing in influencer marketing.

What is interesting is not that these trends are emerging. It is that marketers are finally naming what radio has been doing all along.

For radio stations, this is an opportunity to reframe the conversation. Not as a legacy medium trying to keep up, but as a platform already aligned with what marketers say they want next. Local growth. Cultural relevance. Trusted voices. Engaged communities.

Approaching advertisers with this mindset changes the pitch. You are not selling reach alone. You are offering access to real communities, through people who already have influence and trust.

In a world where “the riches are in the niches,” radio is not behind the curve. It is right on it.

The post The Future of Marketing Is Local. Radio Has Been There All Along. appeared first on Crowd React Media.

We asked over 700 radio listeners from across the country how they feel about Christmas music. Here are the results of our study.

First off, 58% of radio listeners state to ‘love’ Christmas music. That’s a good sign that your station, format appropriate, should play Christmas music. 76% of radio listeners at least ‘like’ Christmas music. 15% say they are neutral towards holiday tunes, and that means they aren’t going to immediately turn the dial away from your station if that Mariah Carey staple comes on. 9% are not exactly in a festive mood come the holiday season (5% ‘dislike it’, and an anti-Xmas 3% ‘Hate it’). So all in all a ballpark 91% of radio listeners are up for the seasonal jams, or at least not repulsed by holiday cheer.

An enthusiastic 15% percent are ready to dive headfirst into the Xmas spirit before Thanksgiving. 23% state that Thanksgiving is the day on which to stack the seasonal tunes into your rotations. According to listeners, this is a little on the earlier side as well. 38% say that December 1st is the best time to start cranking the Christmas numbers making it the holiday sweet spot. It’s early enough to not disappoint the Xmas stans but you’re not alienating the neutrals or those less inclined towards to ‘Jingle Bell Rock’.

A notable 45% of radio listeners require ‘a mix of everything’ when it comes to the many subgenres of Christmas music. The data indicates that stations should mostly stick to the Traditional Classics and Modern Pop staples while sprinkling in some of the deeper cuts. Maybe lead more with tunes like ‘Last Christmas’ by Wham! rather than obscure European Christmas tracks from the early 20th century like ‘Weihnachtslied der Hirten’ by Christof Fr. D. Schubart.

And that’s it from us here at Crowd React Media!

The post Media Minute: It’s Beginning to Sound a Lot Like Christmas (on the Radio) appeared first on Crowd React Media.

“Each year, our State of Media report reveals how audiences engage with content across platforms. In 2025, one story stands out above all others: sports audiences continue to defy the broader trends shaping the media landscape,” said Sean Bos, Co-Founder of Crowd React Media and VP of Research at Harker Bos Group. “Nearly six in ten sports fans now consume sports-related content every single day, a sharp and statistically significant lift over recent years. This unwavering commitment makes sports one of the most reliable forces driving audience loyalty, advertiser investment, and even the survival of entire platforms.”

Key Takeaways from the Report

Radio

• AM/FM Radio Remains the King of Sports Audio
  • 59% of sports audio listeners tune via AM/FM compared to just 36% for podcasts.
  • Advertisers continue to undervalue radio’s reach, even as it delivers larger audiences at lower costs.
  • Local sports talk remains the money-maker with loyal, engaged listeners.

Television

• Sports Content Is Propping Up Cable
  • Cable use among sports fans grew to 51% in 2025, reversing years of decline.
  • Cable retains older audiences, while streaming frustrates with higher costs and fragmented rights.
  • ESPN cable viewership dropped 15 points year-over-year, though ESPN.com remains the top sports site (70%).
• The Streaming Ecosystem Is in Flux — and ESPN’s Transition Is Risky
  • ESPN’s plan to launch Select and Unlimited streaming tiers risks alienating older viewers.
  • ESPN+ (52%) trails ESPN cable (61%), and confusion over subscriptions may slow adoption.
  • Skyrocketing rights costs and profitability pressures remain unresolved.
• Live Games Still Rule — But TV Is the Bedrock
  • 53% of fans prefer watching live games above all else; another 35% split between live and analysis.
  • 55% attended a live event in the past 6 months — but television remains the foundation of fandom.
  • The living room couch continues to be the “best seat in the house.”

Digital & Social

• Sports Fans Are a High-Usage, High-Conversion Audience
  • 28% consume 4+ hours of sports content daily; 68% at least 2 hours.
  • 68% actively post or comment, and 94% regularly read sports news.
  • Engagement has not faded post-pandemic, unlike general media consumption.
• Social Is a Core Arena for Fandom
  • YouTube dominates highlights (87%), followed by Facebook (69%) and Instagram (62%).
  • Twitter/X declined from 55% in 2022 to 41% in 2025, while TikTok surged to 51%.
  • Sports fans rival political and pop culture fandoms in content creation and commentary.
• Digital Aggregators Outpace Legacy Brands
  • Bleacher Report (29%) outdraws Sports Illustrated (23%), Yahoo Sports (23%), and The Athletic (9%).
  • Legacy brands no longer guarantee digital dominance.
  • Aggregators and newer platforms are now central to sports news consumption.

Sports & Fan Behavior

• Football Is the Center of Gravity in U.S. Sports
  • 81% of fans follow football, compared to 63% for basketball and 54% for baseball.
  • Football dominates cultural identity, attention, and advertiser spend.
  • Even non-fans typically watch the Super Bowl, underscoring its universal reach.
• No Offseason: Fans Stay Engaged Year-Round
  • 87% follow their sport through season and playoffs (up from 77% in 2022).
  • 72% track trades, deals, and speculation in the offseason.
  • 71% say following their sport or team is part of daily life.

Betting & Fantasy

• Sports Betting and Fantasy Plateau at High Levels
  • 58% of sports fans have bet on sports; 70% of past bettors remain active.
  • Growth has plateaued, with legalization — not demand — as the main limiter.
  • FanDuel (56%) and DraftKings (51%) dominate, while ESPN BET is rising at 25%.

Access the Full Report

• Access Link: https://crowdreactmedia.com/state-of-sports-media-2025/

About Crowd React Media

Crowd React Media, a division of Harker Bos Group, is a leading provider of audience and advertising research across radio, TV, podcasts, and digital platforms. Founded as Harker Bos Group in 1989, Crowd React Media continues its legacy of helping media companies and brands grow through actionable, strategic insights.

For media inquiries, advance access to upcoming content, or interview requests:

Katie Miller
Co-Founder, Crowd React Media & VP, Client Relations, Harker Bos Group
Crowd React Media & Harker Bos Group
Email: katie@crowdreactmedia.com

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