Live sports continue to be a powerful driver of entertainment and engagement, captivating audiences worldwide. As we edge closer to 2025, groundbreaking innovations are reshaping how sports are produced, consumed, and monetized.
For professional teams, broadcasters, video producers, live sports marketers, and more, understanding these trends is crucial to staying ahead in an ultra-competitive industry.
Here are the top five trends shaking up the world of live sports in 2025.
1. Multi-Channel Streaming
Gone are the days of a single broadcast feed. Multi-channel streaming now reigns supreme, allowing fans to control their viewing experiences like never before. Picture this — a golf enthusiast toggling between live feeds of their favorite player or a motorsports fan zooming into a real-time driver cam. This is the new era of sports streaming.
What makes this trend revolutionary isn’t just the entertainment factor; it’s the accessibility.
Live sports streaming platforms can revolutionize how fans enjoy their favorite events by offering multiview screens that enable simultaneous streaming of multiple games. This feature allows viewers to watch several matches at once, eliminating the hassle of switching between channels or missing crucial moments. Sports fans can follow different teams, leagues, or events, all in one place, creating an enhanced viewer experience. Whether it’s tracking multiple key plays or staying updated on scores from different games, multiview screens cater to the diverse interests of sports enthusiasts.
This technology boosts viewer engagement by offering a dynamic and interactive way to stay immersed in the sports world, ensuring fans never miss a moment of the action. Additionally, one screen can seamlessly play a video ad without disrupting the viewing experience of other games, providing a smart and uninterrupted way to integrate advertisements.
2. Star athlete influencers drive engagement
Micro-influencers and athletes are reshaping the sports industry by building dedicated creator communities. Just like Gymshark’s rise through grassroots marketing, brands and teams are leveraging influential creators to connect with highly specific segments of their audience. What makes these collaborations powerful isn’t only their relatability but also their ability to drive trust and engagement.
Star athletes will continue to redefine brand partnerships 2025 by leveraging social media to act as powerful influencers in the live sports trend. With massive followings and a personal connection to their fans, these athletes use platforms to engage directly through authentic content, driving conversations around the products they endorse. This unprecedented level of interaction not only amplifies brand visibility but also creates meaningful engagement, making their endorsements both credible and highly impactful.
For younger, digital-first fans, these creator-led communities offer an intimate connection to their favorite athletes and sports. Whether a TikTok influencer is dissecting a viral game highlight, or an athlete is live-streaming post-practice Q&A, creator-driven platforms amplify the reach and relevance of live sports. When coupled with social media, these communities are leading the charge in new audience growth while blending entertainment with authenticity.
Here are some popular athletes who are using social media to influence brands in 2024:
- Cristiano Ronaldo – With a massive following on Instagram, Ronaldo continues to be a top influencer for various brands.
- Lionel Messi – Another football legend, Messi uses his social media presence to engage with fans and promote brand partnerships.
- Virat Kohli – Known for his strong presence on Instagram, Kohli is a key influencer in the sports and fitness industry.
- Serena Williams – As a tennis icon, Williams leverages her social media to support brands and causes she believes in.
- LeBron James – A basketball superstar, James uses his platforms to influence and promote various brands.
3. Personalized, Interactive Ads
Brands are stepping up their game with personalized, interactive advertising, offering far more than standard ad breaks. Imagine this scenario during a live soccer match—your favorite player scores and, with a quick QR code scan, you can order their jersey in seconds. Or better yet, picture a halftime video ad offering celebratory drinks delivered to your door with just one click.
This kind of direct engagement drives immediate, measurable action, making it a goldmine for advertisers and broadcasters alike. It’s also a perfect tool during live events where communal experiences thrive. Whether it’s encouraging stadium snack orders during a game or cross-promoting team merchandise, Dolby X THEO leverage interactive ads as a way to connect fans with brands in highly meaningful—and profitable—ways.
THEOads elevates the ad experience with innovative L-Shaped and double box layouts that ensure ads remain less intrusive to fans while preserving immersive viewing. By tailoring personalized ads to match the content being streamed, these layouts drive higher engagement and create a seamless connection between the viewer and the message.
4. The Rise of Women’s Sports
The trajectory of women’s sports is unprecedented, with 2024 marking game-changing milestones and 2025 promising even more growth. Viewership of women’s sports has skyrocketed, evidenced by the WNBA’s most-watched season in history, averaging 1.2 million viewers per game. New leagues, such as the Women’s Elite Rugby League and the Women’s Professional Baseball League, are stepping up to meet this burgeoning interest.
Investment into women’s sports continues to pour in, bolstered by multi-year media deals with the WNBA and NWSL.
Linear TV may struggle to keep up, but streaming services and social platforms remain the go-to channels for fan engagement. Streaming platforms have played a critical role in this transformation by offering broader access and more opportunities to highlight women’s competitions. This digital expansion, coupled with a newfound focus from sports media, has elevated women’s sports into the mainstream. From increased sponsorships to historic broadcasting deals, women’s sports are proving their immense value in the athletic and entertainment industries.
Additionally, the growing stardom of athletes like Naomi Osaka and Alex Morgan is drawing attention to women’s sports across platforms. With public recognition at an all-time high, this trend is rewriting the playbook for diversity and inclusion in sports.
5. Remote Production Revolution (REMI): Transforming live sports broadcasting
Remote Integration Model (REMI) workflows are creating a seismic shift in how live sports broadcasts are executed. Instead of deploying massive production teams and trucks to stadiums and arenas, broadcasters are centralizing operations through IP networks. This allows live audio and video feeds to be transmitted in real time to remote production hubs.
The benefits of REMI are multifold. Events can be produced faster, with fewer on-site logistics challenges, all while maintaining broadcast-quality output. For example, production teams can simultaneously manage a football game in one stadium and a basketball game in another, without even leaving the studio. Beyond efficiency, REMI is unlocking access to top industry specialists who don’t have to travel globally to contribute their expertise. Look for REMI to dominate the industry as broadcasters seek streamlined, cost-effective solutions.
Dolby recently showcased a groundbreaking REMI-based remote production hub, developed in collaboration with Whisper TV, which is revolutionizing live sports broadcasting from its new UK base.
Conclusion
2025 promises an exciting evolution in live sports. Whether it’s through multi-channel streaming giving fans more control, or the efficiency of remote production transforming high-volume events, the industry is heading toward more personalized, accessible, and innovative experiences. Enhanced advertisements, the unstoppable rise of women’s sports, and the power of creator communities are further proof of how technology and culture are reshaping the way we experience sports.
Now is the time for teams, broadcasters, and marketers to act—to innovate, adapt, and capitalize on these game-changing trends.
