GREENVILLE, N.C. — We all know that Americans love to watch sports, but just how much time are we spending watching sports-related content? How does this time impact our daily lives?

Time2Play surveyed more than 1,100 Americans across the country to find out. Here’s the results they released from the survey.

Just how much sports content are Americans watching?

According to this survey:

  • 35% of Americans said their favorite sport to watch was football.
  • 15% said basketball
  • 10% said baseball
  • 7% said hockey

The average American watches four hours of live sports a week.

  • 37% watch 0-1 hour
  • 40% watch 2-5 hour
  • 23% watch 5+ hours

1.3 hours per week is the amount of time the average American spends watching sports highlights.

  • 38% watch 2-5 games per week
  • 69% watch more live sports than highlights
  • 40% watch sports highlights on Youtube

Sports watching habits: Women vs. Men

Kafe Rocks Sports Watching Habits Graphic 2

How are Americans watching sports?

For 60% of people in America, there’s nothing like kicking back on the couch and watching a live game. Meanwhile, 28% of people prefer to watch through a streaming service.

Even though you can watch highlights on the internet or even watch them at a later time on TV, 16% of people say if they can’t watch the game live, they will record it and watch it later.

As far as having company goes, 44% say they prefer to watch sports alone, 21% prefer to watch with a significant other and 17% said they just want to watch with friends.

Why are Americans watching sports?

Kafe Rocks Sports Watching Habits Graphic 4 Opt 2

Sports over everything:

We’ve come to learn that sports are a favorite pastime across the United States. In fact, 65% of people say they’d rather watch sports over the news.

On top of this, 42% admit to watching sports while working, and 20% say they’ve used a game as an excuse to get out of participating in another activity such as going to dinner or a birthday party.

65% of people say they could go more than two weeks without watching sports, which is followed by 35% who say they could only go one week. 16% say three days without watching sports-related content is way too long.