Rewriting The Ad Playbook To Bring Linear & Streaming Together
After years of watching audiences migrate from linear to streaming, the media industry has hit a tipping point: Streaming is becoming the dominant mode of viewing. In live sports, long considered the last stronghold of linear TV, the shift is especially pronounced in local NBA broadcasting. Data from Nielsen, Evoca TV and others found that the U.S. lost approximately 2.7 million pay-TV NBA fans between September 2024 and March 2025.
Puck’s John Ourand reports that NBA local-market viewership fell about 13% across 25 of the league’s 30 teams. For the NBA and its local partners, this shift is rewriting the economics of distribution, pushing teams and rights holders to rethink regional sports network (RSN) models and accelerate direct-to-consumer (D2C) and hybrid streaming approaches to retain fans and keep advertising revenue flowing.
This decline in local linear viewership reflects a broader trend across live sports. Audiences are gravitating towards ad-supported and subscription streaming options that offer more flexibility, interactivity and measurable engagement. For leagues and broadcasters, the implications are clear: Sustaining fan engagement and monetizing live sports now requires a blended strategy which pairs the scale of linear with the precision and dynamism of digital.
The New Era Of Viewer Growth
Streaming has transformed not only how audiences watch, but how content is packaged, distributed and monetized. As RSNs continue to lose subscribers, fans have a harder time finding local games, and sales teams have fewer clearly defined products to take to market. The shift towards ad-supported and D2C streaming models is driving teams and broadcasters to reimagine the traditional RSN structure and explore hybrid models that combine broadcast, D2C and ad-supported streaming.
In this new environment, flexibility, audience targeting and data-driven monetization are essential. These tools help leagues keep fans engaged, give advertisers measurable impact and adapt quickly to evolving viewing habits.
Some leagues are partnering with FAST apps like Victory+, giving them more direct access to local fans. Others are working with major streamers like Amazon, which are testing live-stats overlays, interactive features and enhanced viewing experiences, all while preserving existing distribution agreements. The goal is no longer simply delivering a game, but creating richer, more immersive experiences that retain viewers, attract advertisers and sustain revenue as local markets evolve.hat they build solutions for the future that support convergence using a hybrid approach.