Local Advertisers Gain Unprecedented Access to Sports Audiences as Streaming Redefines TV

Streaming has become the home of live sports, a shift that has opened a lane never before available to local advertisers. Big games once demanded the kind of big money that could drain a small business budget before halftime. Now new tools let advertisers follow fans wherever they watch, turning a once untouchable buy into a chance to meet viewers in the moments they care about most.

Matt Freedman, Multi Market Digital Sales Manager at major broadcast group TEGNA, has had a front row seat to the shift. His background in performance-driven video, from TEGNA’s flagship D.C. station to Sinclair Broadcast Group, gives him a clear view of how the old model has broken open. He says audience fragmentation and smarter technology have created a rare opening for local brands to reach sports fans with real precision and proof of performance.

"Instead of picking your game, you’re going after the audience. It makes it more accessible, more cost-efficient, and a better spread of your campaign over a longer period of time," says Freedman. It replaces guesswork with a simple principle: follow the fan rather than the schedule, and the reach becomes steadier and more predictable.

• Scaling made simple: The same idea applies to scale. "Instead of having to call multiple stations and coordinate which games are going to be hot in what market, you can now just say, 'I want to be in NFL games across the season in these three markets, and I want it spread out evenly.' It’s made it much more accessible and cost-efficient," Freedman explains.

But the new model is about psychology as much as tech. In a world ruled by "scrolling culture," the focused attention of a sports viewer is unusually valuable. Freedman describes it as an environment of deep emotional investment—driven by hometown pride, alma maters, or even sports betting—and that emotional connection, he says, is contagious.

• Emotionally charged: "That emotional connection then gets borrowed by the advertising that sits next to it," Freedman says. "You're more engaged with that advertising than you would be if you were just showing up next to a short video of somebody falling down on a skateboard."

• The co-viewing kicker: It's only amplified by the social nature of sports. While Freedman noted that nearly 50% of all streaming television is co-viewed, sports "takes that to the next level." The living room can turn a passive ad view into an active brand discussion. "If a commercial resonates well enough, you start talking about it with the other person in the room," he says. That interaction increases recall and engagement. "Sports gives you a really conducive environment for that type of interaction to happen."

The result is an evolution of sports advertising from a fuzzy branding play into a sharp, measurable performance channel. In the old world of TV, advertisers were stuck with vague, anecdotal proof, wrestling with the classic attribution problem where a TV ad drove a Google search but the search got all the credit.

• Digital-grade data: "The reporting on connected TV is now on par with a social, paid search, or digital campaign. It’s at that level. You can prove your campaign is getting a return, and you can see exactly which creative is working," Freedman explains. "When you have a client buying across entertainment, sports, and news, a lot of times you will see the sports content is getting better engagement. Sports has an outsized impact on the actual performance it's driving."

• Creative game plan: Because the audience is so locked in and the results are so clear, the message becomes the real differentiator. Brands need creative that meets the moment and speaks to viewers who are already invested. For the first time, they can see exactly which messages land. "The reporting is now at a point where it's deterministic. You're not having to guess if your campaign worked or not." That certainty, he adds, is especially meaningful for local advertisers, where every dollar spent is their hard-earned money and needs to help their business grow.

Freedman’s final advice goes beyond single campaigns: adopt a more holistic, "year-round sports strategy" that moves beyond traditional, short-term campaign thinking. For local advertisers, this means leveraging the constant availability of sports streaming to build a consistent presence that was previously out of reach.

• Absolute madness: "March Madness is a really great example of an event that is built for streaming. There are so many games on across so many different networks. CBS carries a lot of March Madness on linear television, and then streaming can help fill in the gaps for all the games that you can't get through the local CBS affiliation," he says.

A consistent presence is what turns a casual impression into something people remember, Freedman concludes. "The most successful brands are always on. And being always on doesn’t have to wreck your budget. It just requires consistency. Think about seeing a brand during the NFL, then spotting it again when you move to the NBA. Your recall jumps immediately. Streaming lets you close those gaps and build the consistency that drives recall. In marketing, frequency matters, and this helps deliver it."