Introduction

Perhaps you remember when you first heard the phrase ‘second screen’ or maybe it’s been part of our industry for so long, it may as well have always existed.

It’s not a phrase we tend to question. Born from the potent combination of smartphones and social media which emerged in the 00s, we long ago accepted that TV was the first screen, the phone was the second screen, and sports would be what audiences do on both.

Is that still true?

One of the pleasures for me every year, when our team submits their entries for the IMG Digital Trends Report, is a ‘wow’ moment of realization that something our industry never questions is now ripe for unpicking.

Two of our Digital Trends for 2025 deal with the opportunities and threats we face from a rapid proliferation in the number of devices our audiences have.

One discusses ‘second screening’ while the other reflects on the sheer number of connected devices consumers now have, and what this means for new routes to audiences, as well as elevated risk of attention fragmentation.

Like last year, there are two trends that dig into artificial intelligence (AI) and its implications for the sports industry. Both of these could also be described as both opportunity and threat.

If you’re a sports industry executive reading this and becoming equal parts excited and terrified, great. This is the correct response.

We make predictions around new ways of thinking about direct-to-consumer (D2C), and digital measurement, and we suggest that revenue models will finally catch up with the explosion in short-form content.

We hope you enjoy the IMG Digital Trends report for 2025. As always there are seven (a nod to our origins as Seven League before we joined IMG in 2021). This is also its seventh annual edition – a nice milestone.

Feel free to share it, quote chunks of it, question elements of it, and most of all, get in touch about it. The IMG digital team is at your service – whether you are receiving this as a current client, or if you’re thinking about utilizing our expertise.

We look forward to hearing from you.