Live sports streaming remains the biggest challenge for ISPs worldwide, according to Netskrt’s State of the ISP Industry Survey conducted May–August 2025 with responses from 55 global ISPs.
The study found that live sports is the most stressful content category for reliability, with 78% of respondents citing sports as their top concern.
Among sports, American football is singled out, with 70% labeling it the most difficult to deliver, while international football is approaching similar levels.
Traffic spikes during live events can reach up to 200% above daily averages, increasing congestion and buffering risks; more than half of ISPs cite congestion and buffering as their common technical hurdles, with buffering alone identified as a top issue by about one third.
ISPs reported tangible improvements: many appreciate knowing which CDN carries which content to optimize performance, 77% found Netskrt’s monitoring function highly or moderately beneficial for visibility, and more than a third of respondents who deployed Netskrt said customer complaints decreased. Netskrt Cofounder and CRO Lars Cavi said the platform is designed to help providers manage peaks and deliver the expected viewer quality of experience. The full survey is available here: full survey.
