FROM MOMENTS TO MOMENTUM: LIVE SPORTS AT SCALE WITH PUBMATIC
In July of 2025, PubMatic released a first-to-market AI-powered opportunity for programmatic activation centered around premium live sports inventory. Since then, the Live Sports Marketplace has become an award-winning solution that enables buyers to seamlessly layer incremental scale onto their live sports campaigns, driving efficiency and ultimately improving outcomes against high-value sports audiences.
THE PROGRAMMATIC OPPORTUNITY
The programmatic opportunity around live sports is one of the most important (and fastest-scaling) shifts happening in advertising today. With live sports events and audiences rapidly moving to streaming platforms, the most valuable ad inventory in TV is becoming digitally addressable, and advertiser budgets are following.
Digital live sports viewership grew 8.3% in 2025 — far outpacing the broader sports category — while streaming services’ share of global sports rights spending nearly tripled from 8% to 20% between 2021 and 2025, according to Ampere. Meanwhile, 82% of CTV ad buyers plan to increase their programmatic live sports investment in the next 12 months, per research from BCG. The audience is there. The budgets are moving. The infrastructure to capture it at scale is now here.
THE SOLUTION:
PUBMATIC’S LIVE SPORTS MARKETPLACE
Historically, complex airing rights and legacy direct buying have limited programmatic access within the live events ecosystem. However, as advertiser demand has accelerated, AI-powered buying innovation is transforming these constraints into scalable opportunities.
PubMatic’s Live Sports Marketplace leverages AI-powered curation and real-time event intelligence to unlock premium, omnichannel inventory from 20+ leading publishers like Univision and DISH Media, and 30+ DSPs, making high-value live sports inventory programmatically available to advertisers across sports leagues including FIFA, MLB, NBA, WNBA and NHL. Advertisers gain streamlined, turnkey access to verified in-game supply at scale, with the flexibility and control of programmatic activation.
By combining AI-powered curation with real-time sports metadata, PubMatic gives buyers the targeting precision to match the moment. Since launch, the Marketplace has delivered 10× growth in active live sports deals, nearly 2× higher media value compared to standard CTV inventory, and roughly double the impressions filled versus traditional PMPs.
REAL TIME USE CASE – SCALE
A restricted category advertiser was challenged to increase scale against Live Sports audiences to complement linear efforts and drive incremental reach without sacrificing audience precision
- PubMatic recommended a highly targeted CTV strategy, splitting budget between two curated deals: NFL content and Live Sports (inclusive of hockey, soccer, basketball, and baseball)
- Result: PubMatic improved match rates through deal-level targeting strategy, resulting in 100% delivery against a scaled $600k budget, hitting client incrementality goals and providing game-level impression transparency
Based on the value and incremental scale delivered through PubMatic’s Live Sports Marketplace, advertisers have been increasing sports budgets, leaning into efficient, outcomes-based activation.
REAL TIME USE CASE – EFFICIENCY
A CPG Food advertiser ran a test Live Sports campaign in Q1, with CPM goals benchmarked against historical direct buys
- PubMatic deployed bundled Live Sports PMPs at a CPM that was over $5 more efficient than benchmark, while dynamically optimizing inventory mix based on advertiser preferences
- Result: PubMatic delivered in full against test campaign budget, surpassing advertiser CPM goals, leading to a +125% increase in total spend upon renewal — validating programmatic live sports as a sustainable, performance-ready channel.
Connect with your PubMatic representative to learn how the Live Sports Marketplace can drive both brand impact and performance outcomes in 2026.