A finding from Looper Insights’ March 2026 survey of sports streaming professionals sparked a wider conversation on EMARKETER’s Behind the Numbers podcast – one worth listening to if you work anywhere near sports, streaming or rights.
Senior Analyst Ross Benes and Principal Forecasting Writer Ethan Cramer-Flood used the survey’s headline stat – that four in ten sports streaming professionals expect YouTube to become a “full operating system for sports media” – as a starting point to dig into what that could actually mean: a future in which viewers increasingly turn to YouTube as a single access point for live sports, regardless of who owns the rights.
It’s a sharply framed conversation, and the Looper data lands as more than a data point – it reads as a signal of where industry thinking is heading.
👉 Listen to the podcast:
- Behind the Numbers – YouTube’s Complicated Relationship with TV
👉 Read the full report: Who Will Control Sports Streaming in 2026?
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