One in ten Britons are watching illegal sports streams – but what are they watching?

Earlier this year, a global task force was established to tackle sports piracy. But just how widespread is the problem of illegal broadcasts, and how do people watch them? 

YouGov Sports data can reveal that one in ten Britons (9%) watched an illegal sports broadcast in the six months before answering our survey. 

Overall, this group were most likely to watch illegal sports through a website with illegal streams (44%), followed by a firestick/IPTV device (39%). A quarter (26%) said they watched illegal sports at a pub, bar or coffee shop, with 25% saying they viewed them on social media platforms such as Twitter/X. 

Most Britons who view illegal broadcasts are watching football 

We also asked Britons who watch pirated broadcasts which sports they were most likely to watch via illegal means. 

Our data shows that football was comfortably top of the list: 73% of the Britons who watched an illegal broadcast in the past six months watched it. Every other sport on the list was further behind by some distance: the runner-up, boxing, was only watched by 24% of people viewing pirated broadcasts, with MMA coming in third (15%). 

Some 12% of the public said they had watched illegal motorsports, with 9% saying they had watched cricket or NFL, and 8% saying they had watched golf or basketball. Fewer still said they had watched Rugby League (7%) or Rugby Union (6%), and just 4% said they had watched tennis illegally. 

So why do they do it? Our polling from earlier this year showed that four in ten (42%) say they couldn’t afford to watch via legitimate means, and a similar proportion say the event they wanted to watch wasn’t available in the UK. In the latter case, restrictions such as football’s 3pm Saturday blackout – which is in force in the UK, but not necessarily overseas – could be coming into play. 

A third (32%) say they are watching illegal broadcasts with someone else, and a fifth (18%) are candid enough to say that they could afford to watch via legitimate means and simply did not want to do so. 

As for whether or not pirates fear punishment, just three in ten (29%) say they are worried about legal action from sports organisations such as the Premier League, while six in ten (60%) say they are not. 

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