There is a moment when millions of people are glued to the same screen at the same time, nobody switches away and nobody scrolls their phone on the side: live sport. A Bundesliga Sunday, a Champions League night, the final of a World Cup. Sports fans are one of the most attentive and passionate audiences there is. And their sport is currently moving to streaming.
For advertisers, this is one of the most exciting developments in the German market. Where once only large corporations with million-euro budgets could advertise around sport, this audience can now be reached in a targeted, digital way, even with smaller budgets. This article shows why sports fans are such a valuable audience and how you can reach them for your brand.
Sport is moving into living-room streaming
The shift is in full swing. A large share of top-tier sport in Germany now runs on streaming services: DAZN shows the Bundesliga on Friday and Sunday as well as most of the Champions League, Amazon Prime Video has its exclusive Tuesday Champions League match, RTL+ carries the Europa League and Conference League, and the 2026 World Cup comes via MagentaTV, with many matches also free on ARD and ZDF.
The market is consolidating further: with RTL's takeover of Sky Deutschland, a streaming heavyweight with over twelve million subscribers is emerging, and sport remains the driving force behind it. For viewers, this means: watching sport increasingly means streaming it, on the big television in the living room.
Why sports fans are a valuable audience
Sports fans share a trait that makes them so interesting for advertising: passion. They follow their sport regularly, with full commitment and strong emotional involvement. This attitude shapes how they watch television.
Full focus instead of half attention. Anyone who loves sport watches with focus, eyes on the screen. This attention is the foundation on which advertising works better too, a clear contrast to the feed scrolled through on the side.
Watching together. Sport is a social event. People watch it as a couple, with friends, as a family. On average, more people sit in front of the television than in front of any other screen. Your advertising therefore often reaches several people at once.
Clear interests. Sports fans are an easy audience to define. Anyone passionate about sport often has related interests and consumption habits, which makes this group attractive and plannable for many brands.
New: reaching sports fans is no longer a budget question for the big players
For a long time, advertising around sport was an exclusive club. A stadium billboard or a TV spot at half-time on linear television cost sums that were out of reach for a mid-sized business. And even those who were part of it reached every viewer at once, without distinguishing who they were actually paying for.
Streaming changes both. Because sport today runs on ad-financed streaming services, the audience of sports fans can be addressed digitally and precisely, with regional targeting and without the minimum volumes of classic sports sponsorship. A regional business can thereby reach exactly the sports-interested people in its own catchment area.
Here is how it works with onescreen: you do not book a single sports environment and you do not call anyone to do it. Instead, you set your targeting in the Ad Manager to sports fans, and delivery is handled by the platform fully automatically and entirely digitally. You reach your audience wherever they stream, without anyone manually assembling airtime slots in the background.
How to reach sports fans with your brand
A few practical thoughts if you want to reach sports fans. Plan seasonally: around season openers, major tournaments and the peak phase of the leagues, your audience's attention is at its highest. Set your targeting to the interest Sport, and you reach fans regardless of which service they currently use. And use the emotion: a spot that picks up on the energy of sport works better with this audience than a sober product announcement.
To execute this, you need a video spot. If you do not have one yet, that is no longer an obstacle today: onescreen creates spots with the help of AI, significantly faster and more cost-efficiently than the classic route, from existing materials like images and logos.
Conclusion
Sports fans are one of the most attentive and passionate audiences advertising can reach: engaged, emotional, often together in front of the big screen. Because sport is currently moving to streaming, this audience can for the first time be addressed in a targeted way even with smaller and regional budgets, delivered entirely digitally through interest targeting, without the hurdles of classic sports sponsorship and without manual effort. Anyone who wants to win sports fans for their brand now has a direct, plannable way to do it.
Want to know how to reach your audience? Book a free demo, we will show you the possibilities in 30 minutes. Or get started directly in the Ad Manager.
FAQ
Can I reach sports fans as a small business? Yes. Ad-financed streaming lets you target the sports fan audience digitally and regionally, without the high minimum volumes of classic sports sponsorship. You set up the targeting yourself in the Ad Manager.
How does targeting sports fans work? You select the interest Sport as an audience trait in the Ad Manager. Delivery then runs fully automatically and entirely digitally. There is no manual assembling of airtime slots and no phone call, you reach sports-interested people wherever they stream.
Why are sports fans such a valuable audience? Because they follow their sport with passion and high attention, often together with others in front of the big screen. This focus and the positive mood make the group especially receptive to advertising.
Why is now the right moment? Because top-tier sport in Germany is increasingly moving to streaming, from the Bundesliga to the Champions League to the 2026 World Cup. That makes this audience reachable digitally and precisely for the first time, instead of only through expensive classic sports sponsorship.
Do I need my own spot? Yes, streaming is a video channel. If you do not have a spot, onescreen helps create one with the help of AI, faster and cheaper than classic production, based on existing materials.