More Than Half of NFL Fans Have Missed a Big Moment Because Their Stream Failed

There are few worse times for your internet connection to suddenly have a problem than when you’re in the middle of watching a game.

The quarterback drops back, the play starts to unfold, and then…nothing. Instead, the screen is frozen, and all you’re left watching is that little loading circle in the center of the screen. Even if the stream catches up a few seconds later, every second is crucial in a live game.

NFL fans who watch their teams online are getting pretty familiar with that experience. And according to a new HostingAdvice.com survey of more than 1,500 US adults in major NFL markets, it’s far beyond a minor annoyance: 52% say they’ve missed an important play because of a failed stream.

But the survey suggests that fans aren’t just grumbling at the screen and moving on. Some are changing how they approach their home internet altogether, and many aren’t as willing to give a stream much time at all to start working.

Here’s what our survey found.

Fifty-two percent of NFL fans surveyed say they’ve missed an important moment because of a streaming problem. Buffering and freezing are the biggest frustrations, cited by 24% of respondents, while another 17% say their biggest complaint is that streams run behind traditional television.

Younger viewers report the most trouble: 63% of Gen Z and 62% of millennial NFL streamers say they’ve missed an important moment because of streaming problems, compared with 46% of Gen X and 34% of baby boomers.

A bad stream is apparently enough to turn an ordinary internet problem into something fans are willing to spend money to fix: 31% of respondents say they've upgraded their internet plan, router, or Wi-Fi specifically to improve sports streaming. Another 31% have at least considered doing so.

That's nearly 2 in 3 respondents — 62% — who have either upgraded or considered upgrading their home setup for sports.

Younger consumers are especially likely to take action. Nearly 46% of Gen Z respondents have already upgraded their setup, and 79% have either upgraded or considered doing so, compared with 31% of baby boomers.

Perhaps as a surprise to nobody, NFL fans aren't exactly interested in waiting around for their stream to figure things out: 72% of NFL streamers say they would tolerate 5 minutes or less of streaming problems before looking for another way to watch.

Nearly 1 in 5 (19%) wouldn't even wait a full minute. And who can blame them? A minute is long enough when you're watching a live football game. That's potentially an entire possession, a big play, or the moment everyone talks about all week.

And unlike an on-demand movie or TV show, an NFL game isn't going to wait for you to catch up. It puts a lot of pressure on both streaming platforms and home internet providers to be able to provide a reliable experience.

Streaming is changing more than where NFL fans watch games — it's also making internet reliability a much bigger part of the game-day experience.

More than half of NFL streamers have missed an important moment because of technical problems, while nearly 2 in 3 respondents have upgraded or considered upgrading their internet or Wi-Fi for sports streaming.

The expectation is simple: When a game goes live, the stream needs to keep up. Whether internet and streaming providers can consistently deliver that experience is another question.

HostingAdvice.com surveyed 1,523 US adults across 15 major NFL designated market areas (DMAs) to understand their experiences watching and streaming NFL games.

Respondents were asked about technical problems while streaming NFL games, whether those issues caused them to miss important moments, how long they would tolerate streaming problems before looking for another way to watch, and whether they had upgraded or considered upgrading their internet, plan, router, or Wi-Fi to specifically to improve sports streaming.

For findings specific to NFL streamers, respondents who indicated they do not stream NFL games were excluded from the relevant calculations. Other findings reflect the full survey sample unless otherwise noted.

Generational groups were defined as Gen Z (ages 18-29), millennials (30-45), Gen X (46-61), and baby boomers (62-80). Results were rounded to the nearest whole percentage where appropriate.

For media inquiries, please reach out to dennis@hostingadvice.com.