New study reveals the lengths the nation will go to catch their favorite sport, from skipping weddings to watching during work meetingsWednesday 14 August 2024
Top 10 unconventional places Brits watch sport on the sly revealed
38% have secretly streamed sporting events at work, while one in 10 have snuck away from a wedding to watch a final
Half of Brits admit to sneaking off to the loo during social events to check scores, highlighting the nations dedication to never missing a game
More than a third (36%) have used all their mobile phone data to stream sports
New study from Sky Mobile comes as the Premier League kicks off and all Sky Mobile customers can cheekily stream Sky apps, including Sky Sports, without draining their data
As the Premier League kicks off, new research has revealed the extraordinary lengths Brits will go to not miss their favourite sporting events, with many resorting to cheekily streaming games in unexpected places.
At work (38%), family events (30%) and as passengers during car journeys (25%) have topped the list of a Sky Mobile survey of 2,000 UK adults as the most common occasions people have slipped away to catch a glimpse of sporting action.
Even more surprising, half of us (51%) even admitted to sneaking off to the loo during social events to check scores, showcasing the depths of the nation's sporting obsession.
Shockingly, a third of workers confess to being caught watching sports events at work, with 20% watching between 3-5 hours a week on the company clock. And 30% have admitted to cancelling meetings and missing important deadlines to catch their favourite sport.
The top 10 unconventional places Brits watch sports from Sky Mobile:
At work (38%)
During a family event (30%)
In the car (25%)
In the toilet (21%)
In a hospital waiting room (17%)
During a friend's birthday party (15%)
During a meeting (9%)
At a wedding ceremony (8%)
During Christmas dinner (8%)
In the garden shed (8%)
Ahead of the start of the season, half (49%) of sports-obsessed people confess that theyve tried to cancel summer plans to watch sports events live, with one in 10 prepared to miss a friends wedding or a meeting at their child's school to watch a big game. Further to this, faking an illness (30%) and working late (19%) have topped the list of excuses, with 13% claiming a family emergency.
Brits have admitted to some extreme tactics to avoid spoiling important game results before they have a chance to catch up, from avoiding social media (45%) to staying off the internet entirely (36%), and even leaving group chats (12%).
These measures aren't surprising as research shows how devoted we are to our favourite sports. In just six months fans have watched almost a billion hours of sports on Sky* (936M hours).
Amber Pine, Managing Director of Sky Connectivity, said: "We're a nation of sport lovers and many Brits are streaming sports on the go as our research shows major football matches drive a 13% spike in mobile data usage*, which is why at Sky Mobile we don't want fans to miss a moment, and customers can stream all Sky apps including Sky Sports and Sky Go without using their data."
Revealing the extent of the problem, more than a third (36%) say they have run out of data when trying to stream sports, but sport-obsessed Brits can breathe easy as all Sky Mobile customers can stream Sky apps, including Sky Sports, Sky Go, Sky News and more without dipping into their data.
As the football season begins, fans will have even more sport to stream as Sky Sports+ gives access to 50% more live sports via live streams, the mobile app and a dedicated new channel, all at no extra cost. The new launch offers more coverage than ever before from the EFL, both tennis Tours and men's Super League, all which Sky Mobile customers can stream via the Sky Sports app.
Notes to Editors:
For more information, please contact the Sky team on
sky@taylorherring.com / 020 8206 5151
*Data from Sky's Attention Index Report (January - June 2024), conducted with Public First polling of a representative sample of over 3,000 individuals representing every region in the UK.
Public First is a member of the Market Research Society. The full tables for all the data used in this report are available to download from Public First's website.
Sky Mobile network benefits at a glance:
99% network coverage
Roll - roll your spare data into your Sky Piggybank for use when you need it
Piggybank - share spare data in your Sky Piggybank with up to seven SIMs on your account or exchange it for rewards
Watch - enjoy hours and hours of streaming on Sky apps such as Sky Go, Sky Sports and more, without using your data allowance
Mix - Change your data plan whenever you like to suit your needs
Swap - swap to a new phone or tablet whenever you want, before your contract ends
Text to Switch - simply text PAC to 65075 to get your switching code. We'll take care of the rest
About SkySky is one of Europe's leading media and entertainment companies and is part of Comcast Corporation, a global media and technology company that connects people to moments and experiences that matter. At Sky we Believe in Better. It's in our DNA.
We're famous for innovation. We offer the world's smartest TV, Sky Glass; our plug and play streaming puck, Sky Stream; the best aggregation platform, Sky Q: the best aggregation platform, Sky Q; and streaming services NOW and WOW. We provide connectivity you can count on in mobile, fast, secure, reliable residential and business broadband, as well as smart home protection through Sky Protect.
We're Europe's premium content producer. We create award-winning original content, produce the biggest live sporting events, and we provide free access to news and the arts. Our new s
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
01/06/2026
In its sixth year, the broadcaster's coverage has become a global brand and ...
01/06/2026
Designed to solve a common problem in broadcasting, the automated workflow detects, identifies, removes, and documents copyrighted music
AudioShake has introdu...
01/06/2026
The sports-analytics company combines its data with proprietary AI to help leagu...
01/06/2026
Category line-up & sponsors announced
Photo: Paul Clarke
The Production Music Awards (PMA) have announced that submissions are now officially open ahead of...
01/06/2026
New hybrid sample/synthesis instrument revealed
Excite Audio have just released the latest instalment in their Evolve series, which has been developed in co...
01/06/2026
Latest TONEX expansion captures three rare vintage amps
The newest addition to IK Multimedia's ever-growing TONEX line-up introduces a set of three incr...
01/06/2026
Musically intelligent soft synth gets upgraded
Scaler Music will be probably be best known to many for their music theory tools, but their product range al...
01/06/2026
SBS confirms its broadcast sponsors for FIFA World Cup 2026
1 June, 2026
Media releases
SBS has secured Hyundai, Hisense, Macca's, Rexona, bet365, Com...
01/06/2026
Rohde & Schwarz Satellite Industry Days 2026 guided by the motto From Earth to ...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Marshall Electronics is showcasing a comprehensive lineup of next-generation POV cameras, purpose-built to power today's connected AV environments, at InfoC...
01/06/2026
Adobe Announces Concept to Vector
Deepa Subramaniam June 1, 2026
0 Comments
One of the biggest frustrations we hear from designers is how difficult it...
01/06/2026
Vampire Feature Night Patrol Graded with DaVinci Resolve Studio
Brie Clayton June 1, 2026
0 Comments
Colorist shapes dark, gritty tone for horror thri...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Mardi 2 juin 14h00
FilmLight (ARRI), 10 rue Ren Boulanger, 75010 Paris
Rejoignez-nous pour d couvrir comment FLAPI (l'API FilmLight) peut transformer e...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
31/05/2026
Olivia P rez-Collellmir to Premiere Original Work at Gaud Centennial in Barcelona The Berklee graduate and faculty member will debut her choral symphony with...
31/05/2026
Back to All News
Netflix Wins 15 Awards at the Canadian Screen Awards - See Pho...
31/05/2026
Taiwan is home to more than 500 NVIDIA ecosystem partners. More than 1 million N...
31/05/2026
As factories move from isolated automation to plant-wide intelligence, manufacturers need AI systems that can connect live machine signals, quality systems, wor...
31/05/2026
The NVIDIA AI Cloud ecosystem is accelerating the global buildout of AI factory infrastructure. Partners are expanding capacity to meet growing demand from ente...
30/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/05/2026
Zero in on one that says yes (and no)
Andy Marken May 29, 2026
0 Comments
Hero image courtesy of Deposit Photos
For content creators the most difficu...
29/05/2026
With InfoComm 2026 just weeks away, NDI is giving attendees plenty of reasons to...
29/05/2026
Reaffirming a partnership that has defined Canadian sports broadcasting since 19...
29/05/2026
Mobile/tablet is No. 2 device for watching TV, suggesting that the sports-production industry needs to take another look at the format
Ring Digital's Sprin...
29/05/2026
Berliner Ensemble, one of Berlin's five major theater companies, has expande...
29/05/2026
Solid State Logic will showcase its new compact, fly-away TCA Tour audio product...
29/05/2026
Gerald (Jerry) Pierce, a pioneering technologist who helped shape the digital transformation of the motion picture industry, passed away last month on April 12 ...
29/05/2026
Paramount+ will be the English-language U.S. home for Barclays Women's Super...
29/05/2026
Further strengthening its virtualisation strategy to fully support broadcasters ...
29/05/2026
Swiss broadcaster Canal Alpha has deployed Harmonic's award-winning, software-based XOS Advanced Media Processor to modernize playout operations across cant...
29/05/2026
PTZOptics will showcase a new generation of intelligent video workflows at InfoComm 2026, June 17-19, Las Vegas. Visitors to booth N8227 will see how PTZOptics ...
29/05/2026
Arizona's Family has launched the Arizona's Family Sports (AZFS) streaming app, a new direct-to-consumer destination for live, local sports. The app is ...
29/05/2026
Starting in 2027, DAZN will be the exclusive home of The Canadian Football Leagu...
29/05/2026
Comcast Business has detailed the advanced network infrastructure it has deploye...
29/05/2026
In two-day event, leaders from academia and industry explored solutions to chall...
29/05/2026
The Basketball Tournament (TBT), now entering their 13th year of competition, ha...
29/05/2026
Roku has launched FOX One as a Premium Subscription on The Roku Channel in the U.S. Roku customers can now subscribe to FOX One using their Roku account for liv...
New study reveals the lengths the nation will go to catch their favorite sport, from skipping weddings to watching during work meetingsWednesday 14 August 2024
