This fall marks one of the busiest stretches on the sports calendar. From football and basketball to playoffs and global tournaments, fans everywhere will be tuning in live, sharing in the high-stakes moments that define sports culture.
These are the rare events that cut through distraction, when audiences are glued to screens, invested in every play, and engaging in conversations that ripple across households, social media, and beyond.
For advertisers, these moments present unmatched opportunities. Live sports is one of the last bastions of appointment viewing in an on-demand world. Fans are tuned in as it happens, making sports one of the most powerful opportunities to engage highly attentive, emotionally invested audiences.
And these moments don’t just connect fans and brands; they’re #FundedByAdvertising. Advertising plays a crucial role in making live sports accessible to fans everywhere, ensuring these shared cultural experiences continue to thrive.
Yet while the potential is enormous, execution hasn’t always kept pace. Traditional buying methods often fail to distinguish between high-impact and low-impact moments, wasting impressions during less meaningful stretches while missing opportunities to reach audiences when their attention is at its peak.
Recent EDO data reveals just how significant this gap has become: streaming NFL ads outperformed cable and broadcast by 66% during the 2024-25 season, with some exclusive streaming events showing up to 116% better performance than average TV ads. This effectiveness gap exists because streaming offers what linear cannot: precision targeting that reaches highly specific audiences with more relevant, impactful messaging.
Advertisers have long known the promise of live sports but unlocking that value at scale with precision has been difficult.
The Power of PubMatic’s Live Sports Marketplace
To address this challenge, we recently launched an AI-powered Live Sports Marketplace, a breakthrough designed to give advertisers precision, scale, and reliability across premium sports inventory. By analyzing live game data in real time, the marketplace ensures brands can connect with fans when they are most immersed in the action, whether that’s a game-winning goal, a nail-biting overtime, or a championship-defining play.
The Live Sports Marketplace offers:
- Event- and Channel-Level Precision: Target specific games, teams, or even pivotal in-game moments across a fragmented streaming ecosystem
- Dynamic Scheduling & Real-Time Packaging: Access up-to-the-minute sports schedules and inventory, so campaigns run exactly when and where the action is
- Seamless Scale During Spikes: Built on PubMatic’s owned-and-operated infrastructure, the Marketplace manages unpredictable surges in live viewership, guaranteeing reliable ad delivery
- A Scalable, Future-Ready Roadmap: Advertisers benefit from flexible manual controls, while future automation will streamline deal creation and reporting
And while these features are powerful on their own, their value grows even further when combined with premium partnerships.
Premium Partnerships, Expansive Reach
To deliver this precision at scale, we’ve partnered with FanServ, giving advertisers access to some of the most in-demand live sports inventory, from the NBA and WNBA to MLB, NHL, and the National Women’s Soccer League.
Beyond FanServ, advertisers also gain unified access to leading publishers, including MLB, FuboTV, DirecTV, and Spectrum Reach. The marketplace covers a wide range of programming, from major U.S. leagues (NBA, NHL, MLS, NCAA athletics) to alternative and global sports such as pickleball, MMA, cricket, and more.
With this combination of advanced technology and unmatched partner inventory, we’re already seeing extraordinary momentum.
Meeting Accelerating Demand
The shift is undeniable: audiences are flocking to streaming, and live sports are leading the charge. For advertisers, this means old approaches won’t cut it. Scale alone isn’t enough; you need precision, resilience, and the ability to activate instantly when attention spikes.
According to eMarketer, 114.1 million people will watch live sports digitally in 2025, compared to 82 million via traditional TV. But it’s not just about audience migration, it’s about advertising effectiveness. With streaming now capturing 45.3% of ad-supported TV viewing compared to broadcast’s 26%, the shift is clearly accelerating. This underscores why advertisers need partners capable of delivering both precision and scale, and why we’ve built this marketplace for the future of live sports.
The Future of Live Sports Advertising
Looking ahead, the future of live sports advertising won’t simply be about buying inventory. It will be about owning the moments that define culture. Advertisers will need the tools to act with precision, scale seamlessly, and optimize in real time.
PubMatic’s Live Sports Marketplace makes this possible. By transforming fragmented, under-monetized inventory into curated, high-value opportunities, we’re enabling advertisers to connect with fans during the most impactful moments of the game.
This season, as fans cheer, tweet, and celebrate in real time, the brands that succeed will be those that show up strategically – relevant, timely, and part of the cultural conversation.
Ready to capitalize on the streaming sports advantage? This season and beyond, discover how our Live Sports Marketplace can help you capture attention when it counts most.
